CIHM 
Microfiche 


({Monographs) 


ICI\AH 

Collection  de 
microfiches 
(monographies) 


Canadian  Instituta  for  Historical  IMicroraproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  da  microraproductions  historiquas 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes  /  Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best  originai 
copy  avaiiabie  for  fiiming.  Features  of  this  copy  which 
may  be  bibiiographicaily  unique,  which  may  aiter  any  of 
the  images  in  the  reproduction,  or  which  may 
significantly  change  the  usual  method  of  filming  are 
checked  below. 


0 

D 
D 


0 
0 

D 
D 
D 

D 


D 


Coloured  covers  / 
Couverture  de  couleur 

Covers  damaged  / 
Couverture  endommagte 

Covers  restored  and/or  laminated  / 
Couverture  restaurte  et/ou  pelliculte 

Cover  title  missing  /  Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

Coloured  maps  /  Cartes  g^ographiques  en  couleur 

Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)  / 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 

Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations  / 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material  / 
Relid  avec  d'autres  documents 

Only  edition  available  / 
Seule  Edition  disponible 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion  along 
interior  margin  /  La  reliure  serr^e  peut  causer  de 
I'ombre  ou  de  la  distorsion  le  long  de  la  marge 
int^rieure. 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restorations  may  appear 
within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these  have  been 
omitted  from  filming  /  Use  peut  que  certaines  pages 
blanches  ajoutdes  lors  d'une  restauration 
apparaissent  dans  le  texte,  mais,  lorsque  cela  6\ait 
possible,  ces  pages  n'ont  pas  6t6  filmtes. 

Additional  comments  / 
Commentaires  suppt^mentaires: 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire  qu'il  lui  a 
6\6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details  de  cet  exem- 
plaire qui  sont  peut-dtre  uniques  du  point  de  vue  blbli- 
ographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier  une  image  reproduite, 
ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une  modifk»tion  dans  la  riMn- 
de  nomiale  de  filmage  sont  indiqute  ci-des30us. 

I      I   Coloured  pages  /  Pages  de  couleur 

I I   Pages  damaged  /  Pages  endommagtes 

□   Pages  restored  and/or  laminated  / 
Pages  restaur^s  et/ou  peiiiculdes 

0   Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed  / 
Pages  dteolortes,  tachet^es  ou  piqu6es 

I      I   Pages  detached  /  Pages  d6tach6es 

I  >/]   Showthrough  /  Transparence 

□   Quality  of  print  varies  / 
Quality  indgaie  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material  / 
Comprend  du  materiel  suppl^mentaire 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  en^ta  slips, 
tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to  ensure  the  best 
possible  image  /  Les  pages  totalement  ou 
partiellement  obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'enata,  une 
pelure,  etc.,  ont  6t6  fiim^es  k  nouveau  de  fagon  k 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 

Opposing  pages  with  varying  colouration  or 
discolourations  are  filmed  twice  to  ensure  the  best 
possible  image  /  Les  pages  s'opposant  ayant  des 
colorations  variables  ou  des  decolorations  sont 
filmtes  deux  fois  afin  d'obtenir  la  meilleure  image 
possible. 


D 
D 


D 


Thia  ntwn  Is  filnwd  at  tlw  raduetion  ratio  chaekMl  b«tow  / 

C«  docummt  Mt  fHin«  Mi  taux  <te  rMuetion  Indiqirf  ei-dMtou«. 


lOx 


14x 


18x 


12x 


16x 


20x 


22x 


26x 


30x 


24x 


28x 


n 

32x 


The  copy  filmed  hart  has  baan  raproduead  thanki 
to  tha  ganaroaity  of: 

National  Library  of  Canada 


L'axamplaira  film*  fut  raproduit  grica  A  la 
g«n4roaiti  da: 

Bibliotheque  nationale  du  Canada 


Tha  imagaa  appaaring  hara  ara  ttta  baat  quality 
poasibia  conaidaring  tha  condition  and  lagibility 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  kaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  apacificationa. 


Original  copiaa  in  printad  papar  covara  ara  fllmad 
beginning  with  tha  front  covar  and  anding  on 
tha  laat  paga  with  a  printad  or  illuatratad  impraa- 
aion,  or  tha  back  covar  whan  appropriata.  All 
othar  original  copiaa  ara  filmad  beginning  on  tha 
firat  paga  with  a  printad  or  illuatratad  impraa- 
aion,  and  anding  on  tha  laat  paga  with  a  printad 
or  illuatratad  impraaaion. 


Tha  laat  racordad  frama  on  aach  microfiche 
ahall  contain  tha  symbol  ^-^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUEO").  or  tha  symbol  y  (meening  "END"), 
whichever  eppliea. 

Mapa.  plataa.  charta,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  In  one  expoaura  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bonom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrama  illuatrata  the 
method: 


Lea  imeges  suivantea  ont  *ti  raproduitss  avac  la 
plus  grand  soin.  compta  tenu  de  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattet*  de  I'exemplaira  film*,  at  an 
eonformit*  avac  lea  conditiona  du  contrat  da 
filmage. 

Lee  exemplairea  originaux  dont  la  couvartura  tn 
papier  eat  imprimAe  aont  film«s  an  commandant 
par  la  premier  plat  at  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
darni^re  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinta 
d'impreaaion  ou  d'illuatration,  soit  par  la  lacond 
plat,  aalon  le  eaa.  Toua  lea  autras  axemplairas 
originaux  sont  filmia  an  commandant  par  la 
premiere  pege  qui  comporte  une  empreinta 
d'impreaaion  ou  d'illuatration  at  en  terminant  par 
la  derniire  pege  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  dee  aymbolea  auivanta  apparaitra  sur  la 
darnlAre  imege  de  cheque  microfiche,  salon  la 
caa:  le  symbols  ^^  signifie  "A  SUIVRE".  la 
aymbole  ▼  aignifie  "FIN". 

Lea  cartea.  planchea,  tableaux,  etc..  peuvent  atre 
filmta  A  dea  taux  de  reduction  diff«rents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atra 
raproduit  en  un  seul  clich*.  il  est  filmi  A  partir 
da  Tangle  aupiriaur  gauche,  de  gauche  *  droita. 
at  de  haut  en  baa.  an  prenant  le  nombre 
d'imagea  nicaaaaire.  Lea  diagrammas  suivants 
illuatrant  le  mithode. 


1 

2 

3 

1  2  3 

4  5  6 


MICROCOPY   RESOIUTION   TEST  CHART 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


156 


jZ8 

IM 


2.5 

1.8 


^    /APPLIED  IIVHGE 


1653  EosI  Main  Street 

Rochester,   Neo   York         14609       USA 

(716)   482  -  0300  -  Phone 

(716)   288-5989  -Fax 


ifed? 


The  Coign   of   Vantage 


By  the  same  Author 

THE    ORBIT    OF    LIFE 

Studies  in  Human  Experience 
Price  li.oo  net 

Brief  extracti  from  preu  notices  j-. 

"Itioughtful  readers  of  these  engaginff  Essays  will 
welcome  .nore."_7»/  Onthok,  New  York! 

"  A  penetrating,  ui^usuai  study  of  \Ht."-.TAt  CM* 
Toronto,  ' 

"The  expres^sion  of  an  eminently  cultured  and  re- 
flective mind."_7»/  Scotsman,  Edinburgh. 

"Abounds  in  common  sense  and  is  full  at  the  Mme 
time  of  ethical  and  religious  suggestion."— TS/ 
Spectator,  London. 

"  Bright,  interesting.  Instructive,  sympathetic  and 
stimulating  to  thought. "-TX/  htrVu  and  Pru- 
oyter,  Cincinnati. 

"  Much  noble  thought  expressed  in  language  of  un- 
common  beauty."- TX*  IVcstminstef,  Totom. 


FL3MING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 
Publishers 


=1f 


The  Coign  of  Fantage 


J. 


By 

W.  T.  HERRIDGE 

Au$h$r  tf  "  T/u  Orbit  $f  Lift** 


Niw  York  Chicago        Touonto 

Fleming    H.    Revcll    Company 

AND  EoiNBUtGH 


London 


fcLS3 


Copyright,  1908,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  i$8  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  80  Wabash  Avenue 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:      100   Princes    Street 


J 


Preface 


THE  writer  of  these  essays  grate- 
fully acknowledges  the  kind  re- 
ception given  to  a  previous  series, 
The  Orbit  of  Life.     In  this   book,  as  in 
the  former  one,  he  has  treated  different 
aspects  of  human  affairs  in  the  belief  that 
the  ethical  and  spiritual  underlie  them  all, 
and  afford  the  only  adequate  clue  to  their 
meaning.     He  claims  no  merit  for  standing 
in  what  he  thus  regards  as  "  the  coign  of 
vantage,"   but  will    be   glad  if   there  is 
enough  truth  in  his  vision  to  be  of  some 
little  service  to  others  who,  like  him,  not 
merely  watch  the  world-drama,  but  have 
to  take  their  place  in  it. 


[5] 


CONTENTS 


On  Keeping  Abreast  of  the  Times 

The  Profit  of  Failure 

Criticism 

Secret  Inspirations . 

God's  Gentleman    . 

The  Human  Touch . 

Concerning  Heresy . 

The  Complex  Life  . 

The  Ethics  of  Work 

A  Christmas  Dream 


9 

37 

53 
67 

81 

95 
III 
127 

143 


[7] 


wSSS^ 


^t^MUH^KjayoHM 


i*'i 


IS 


On  Keeping  Abreast  of  the  Times 


■~-ru^,r^im.-     .--»*-« 


ia^^BlMfttBi 


"  By  desp.«ng  all  that  has  preceded  us.  we  teach  other, 
to  desp„e  ourselves.  Where  there  is  no  established  .cale 
nor  rooted  faith  in  excellence,  all  superiority-our  own  a, 
well  as  others-soon  comes  to  the  ground.  By  applying  the 
wrong  end  of  the  magnifying  glass  to  all  objects  indis- 
criminately, the  most  respectable  dwindle  into  insignificance, 
and  the  best  are  confounded  with  the  worst.    .  if 

with  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  we  do  not  gain  an  enlarge- 
ment and  elevation  of  views,  where  is  the  benefit  ?  » 

— Hazutt  :    On  Rtading  New  Books. 


flij^ 


"^ 


tsT 


On  Keeping  Abreast  of  the  Times 


Now  that  Science  has  done  so 
much  to  annihilate  space,  and 
bring  us  immediate  news  from 
almost  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  a  kind 
of  reproach  attaches  to  the  parochial  point 
of  view.  The  daily  newspaper,  whatever 
its  faults,  ought  to  be  a  sufficient  corrective 
of  that.  And  yet,  the  growth  of  a  true 
cosmopolitan  sentiment  is  not  determined 
either  by  the  extent  of  our  knowledge  or 
the  facilities  we  possess  for  obtaining  it. 
In  our  lazy  gratitude  over  the  triumphs  of 
modem  invention,  we  must  not  allow  our- 
selves to  admit  that  we  are  nothing  but 
slaves  of  an  intricate  network  of  machin- 
ery. An  eloquent  passage  in  Cicero's  De 
Legibus  describes  a  citizen  of  the  whole 
world  as  ono  who,  taking  a  noble  view  of 
[II] 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


things,  is  freed  from  the  snare  of  a  narrow 
outlook  not  so  much  by  variety  of  infor- 
mation as  by  that  profound  insight  which 
separates  what  is  mortal  and  transient 
from  what  is  divine  and  eternal. 

It  will  not  be  the  fault  of  sensational 
journalism  if,  in  some  directions  at  least, 
we  are  not  soon  made  "  superficially  om-' 
niscient."     But  of  what  particular  benefit  is 
it  to  note,  as  we  sip  our  coffee,  that  some 
foul    murder  has  been  done,   or  that  a 
minutely-detailed  scandal  has  ruffled  the 
calm  of  high  social  circles?    The  art  of 
culture  partly  lies  in  learning  how  to  forget. 
Even  the  paragrapher  should  be  more  than 
a  mere  pathologist.    The  large-minded  wit- 
ness  will  neither  be  too  dainty  to  face  facts 
as  they  are,  nor  too  blind  to  discern  their 
full  significance.     But  he  will  not  revel  in 
the    unhealthy,   nor    set  down  aught  in 
malice.     Perfectly  aware  that  all  kinds  of 
deeds  are  being  done  around  him,  he  will 
prefer  to  speak  of  life's  heroism  rather 

[12] 


1 


Abreast  of  the  Times 

than  its  cowardice,  its  glory  rather  than  its 
shame.  For  while  it  is  unquestionably  of 
some  consequence  what  a  man  knows,  it 
is  of  still  greater  consequence  what  kind  of 
a  man  knows  it. 

Any  one  who  attempts  to  paint  a  satisfy- 
ing picture  of  the  present  should  not  leave 
out  a  proper  background.  To-day  is 
simply  the  sum  total  of  yesterdays,  plus 
itself.  No  single  hour  stands  in  complete 
isolation  from  other  hours,  but  takes  its 
bias  from  those  that  have  preceded  it. 
The  most  ardent  radicalism  is  thus  com- 
pelled to  have  some  conservative  elements 
in  it.  What  history  calls  Revolution 
comes  from  ignoring  the  suggestive  les- 
sons which  experience  is  intended  to  teach 
us.  It  is  the  drastic  cure  for  insolent  evils 
too  long  tolerated  without  rebuke.  The 
normal  process  of  development  is  by  evo- 
lution. The  clock  of  time  is  not  meant  to 
strike  twelve  until  all  the  other  numbers 
have  been  rung  out  in  regular  sequence. 
[13] 


rifattm 


_TAe^ig„  of  Vantagt 

H  we  would  be  m^^^TIn  ^7^^^ 
we  must  be  at  once  behind  the  age  and' 
ye.  ahead  of  it.  ,ooki„^  „;«,  ^^^ 
torted  vision  upon  what  is  of  perma- 
nent  value  both  in  retrospect  and  pros- 
rect  ■„  order  to  the  proper  shaping  of 
human  destiny. 

The  popular  conception  of  what  is  meant 
by  moderaness  shows  itseif  in  a  very  plain 
way  m  regard  to  litemture.  Perhaps  the 
successive  enthusiasms  which  each  new 
boolc  excites  in  some  quarter,,  though 
often  of  a  shallow  sort,  may  seem  better 
than  none  at  all.  It  requires  courage  to 
confess  total  ignorance  of  a  recent  novel 

teisberngtallced  about  in  the  clubs  and 
a  fashionable  dinner-parties.    Only  a  man 
of  stn.t  probity  will  go  through  the  ordeal 
without  excuse  or  equivocation.     It  is  „o, 
that  he  has  made  the  morose  resolve  to 
avoid  the  volume  simply  because  every  one 
else  appears  to  like  it.  but  that  other  read- 
ing has  consumed  his  leisure.    If  he  is  of 
[•4] 


Alreast  of  the  Timet 


sensible  habits,  he  may  have  learned  to 
abandon  casual  methods,  and  formed  some 
definite  plan.    At  the  dawn  of  the  new 
star  he  was,  perhaps,  refreshing  his  mem- 
ory of  the  ancient  classics,  or  examirHg 
some   historical   period,  or  probing  into 
the  secrets  of  science,  or  trying  to  reach 
the  heart  of  a  great  poem,  or  studying  with 
more    exact    and    reverent  attention  the 
words  of  Him  of  Nazareth.    And  in  that 
case,  his  lack  of  eager  desire  to  hear  some 
new  thing,  ever,  though  he  may  carry  it  to 
an  obstinate  extreme,  cannot  at  least  be  at- 
tributed to  intellectual  indifference.    Herr 
Teufelsdrockh  made  a  laborious  attempt 
to  read  the  Canonical  Books  of  the  Dan- 
diacal Body  ;  but  "  In  vain,"  he  says,  "  I 
summoned  my  whole  energies  and  did  my 
very   utmost ;  at  the  end  of  some  short 
space  I  was  uniformly  seized  with  not  so 
much  what  I  can  call  a  drumming  in  my 
ears,  as  a  kind  of  insufferable  Jew's-harping 
and   scrannel-piping  there ;  to  which  the 
[15] 


The  Coignjf  Vantage 

Wghtfullest  species  of  Ma^ii^tin^^ 
supervened.    And  if  I  strove  to  shake  thii 
away,  and   absolutely   would  not  yield 
«me  a  hitherto  unfelt  sensation,  as  oi 
Dehrtum    Tremens,  and  a  melting  intc 
total  deliquium  :  till  at  last,  by  order  of  the 
doctor,  dreading  ruin  to  my  whole  Intel- 
lectual  and  bodily  faculties,  and  a  general 
creaking  up  of  the  constitution.  I  reluc 
tanUy  but  determinedly  forebore."    Such 
alarming  consequences  as  those  which  vis- 
ited the  unfortunate  German  professor,  it 
»  to  be  hoped,  are  quite  unusual ;  but.  at 
all  events,  they  serve  as  a  ti^gic  illustration 
o    the  fact  that  what  is  called  by  some 
light  hterature  "  may  be  to  others  heavy 
indeed.     Unless   the   food  is  predigested. 
and  ,s  really  food,  omnivorous  people,  no 
matter  how  tough  they  are.  must  have  a 
hard  time.     Even  though  they  succeed  in 
boltmg  the  favourite  author  of  to^iay,  and 
so  appease  the  furies  of  conventionality, 
they  will  soon  be  behind  again  if  they  faU 
[i6] 


j4 breast  of  the  Times 


to  do  the  same  thing  with  the  favourite  of 
to-morrow.  For  a  certain  kind  of  literature 
is  "  current "  with  a  vengeance,  and  runs 
away  faste  than  the  sands  in  the  hour- 
glass of  life. 

Charles  Lamb  congratulated  himself  on 
having  a  most  catholic  taste  in  matters  of 
reading,  but   felt  obliged  nevertheless  to 
draw  up  a  catalogue  of  books  that  are  no 
books,  among  which  he  includes  ••  all  those 
volumes    which    no    gentleman's    library 
should  be  without."    Taken  seriously,  this 
seems  a  rather  prejudiced  assertion  of  the 
rig*'*   of   private  judgment.     One  might 
dispense  with  Court  Calendars  and  Alma- 
nacs and  such  like,  and  not  miss  much ; 
but  Josephusand  Hume  and  Gibbon,  whom 
Lamb's  whimsical  palate  also  refuses,  have 
been    accorded   a    place    among    useful 
writers  by  a  general  consent  which  can 
scarcely  be  ignored.     There  are  also  many 
books  dealing  with  matters  of  immediate 
interest  which  will  either  be  read  promptly 
[17  J 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


or  not  at  all ;  and  others  of  pure  amuse- 
ment or  fascinating  narrative  that  beguile 
a  weary  hour.     It  would  be  too  severe  a 
rule  to  pass  by  every  book  that  cannot  be- 
come a  possession  forever.     "  The  crowds 
and   centuries  of  books,"  says  Emerson, 
"are   only   commentary   and  elucidation, 
echoes  and   weakeners  of  the  few  great 
voices  of  time."     Even  so,  if  any  one  pre- 
fers  his  reading  diluted,  he  should  be  al- 
lowed   perfect  freedom   to  complete  the 
process  of  mental  assimilation  in  his  own 
way.     The    immortals    take    such    giant 
strides  that  few  have  the  vigour  to  be  al- 
ways keeping  step  with  them.     Many  a 
pleasing  echo,  with  an  individuality  of  its 
own,  would  be  silenced  by  the  perpetual 
thunder  of  the  Olympians.     Publishers,  as 
well  as  "  the  public,"  can  afford  to  take  a 
genial  view  of  a  writer  who,  though  he  does 
not  make  his  home  on  the  topmost  heights, 
has  something  to  the  purpose  to  say  from' 
a   quiet   nook  in  a  lower  altitude.     The 
[i8] 


Abreast  of  the  Times 

name  of  even  these  is  not  Legion.  And 
yet,  the  essence  of  a  world-library  could  be 
brought  within  the  compass  of  a  modest 
room.  What  are  the  hundred  best  books 
is  not  a  matter  to  determine  by  vicarious 
selection ;  but  to  any  one  who  uses  his 
brains,  a  single  really  great  book  is  more 
educational  than  a  whole  cart-load  of  small 
ones.  And  sound  literature,  like  sound 
wine,  is  all  the  better  for  keeping.  Though 
we  have  moved  into  a  different  atmosphere, 
there  need  be  no  outcry  for  an  "  up-to- 
date"  Homer  or  Dante  or  Shakespeare. 
Their  truth  has  made  them  eternally  fresh, 
and  the  flight  of  time  serves  rather  to  en- 
hance appreciation  of  them.  So  far  from 
growing  out  of  the  great  thoughts  of  great 
thinkers,  it  is  only  by  earnest  brooding 
over  the  problems  of  life  and  the  lessons  of 
experience  that  we  slowly  learn  to  grow 
into  them. 

Nothing  can  atone  for  the  want  of  that 
habit  of  personal  reflection  which  takes  the 
[19] 


■" 


ia 


! 


'Ww^i 


w     ^  ^^  *-«.«> 


MMIl 


J     \ 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


grains    of    truth    from    every    field    and 
grinds  them  in  its  own  mill,  so  translating 
knowledge  into  character.     He  who  reads 
in  a  merely  parasitic  way  soon  loses  the 
strength  of  individuality,  and  though  he 
may  be  a  walking  encyclopedia,  the  capri- 
cious Z«/^m/  does  with  him  what  she  will. 
It  is  in  the  realm  of  action  that  the  test 
comes.     While  new    light    will    without 
doubt  be  given  to  each  new  age  that  is  on 
the  watch  for  it,  and  so  lead  the  course  of 
events  into  broader  channels  than  those  of 
earlier  generations,  yet  the  true  man,  faith- 
ful to  the  tasks  imposed  upon  him,  doing 
his  duty  as  he  conceives  it  to  be,  even 
though  he  may  seem  to  lack  the  wisdom 
which  they  ought  to  possess  who  are  the 
heirs  of  all  the  centuries,  is  worth  being 
studied  by  every  one  who  aspires  to  meet 
the  modem  situation.     For  he  has  made 
the    same    attempt    which  fin    de  sihle 
thought  must  also  make,  if  it  is  to  be  of 
any  practical  service,  namely,  to  go  beneath 
[20] 


" 


Abreast  of  the  Timei 


surface  appearances,  and  get  at  the  heart 
of  reality.    The  "  very  latest  thing  "  should 
be  judged  on  its  merits,  since  mere  new- 
ness affords  no  criterion  of  intrinsic  value. 
But  however  learned  one  may  be,  he  need 
not  disdain  to  judge  it,  whether  it  pleases 
him  or  not.     Pedants  can  never  be  efficient 
guides.    The   men  who  will  prove  most 
useful  in  this  busy  age  are  not  those  who 
look  askance  upon  it,  and  sigh  either  for 
"the    good  ^Id  times"   or  for  a  vague 
U    pia  that  floats  in  cloudland  before  them, 
buc  those  who  feel  a  genuine  interest  in 
what  is  going  on  in  the  world  now,  and 
are  able  to  read  the  phenomena  of  the 
present  in  the  light  of  truths  that  are  eternal. 
It  is  impossible  to  seize  the  fleeting  day, 
save  in  a  spirit  of  selfish  and  unproductive 
Epicureanism,  unless  we  discern  both  its 
perils  and  its  opportunities.     And  in  order 
to  do  this,  we  must  feel  the  tremendous 
force  of  those  underlying  laws  that  govern 
all  noble  living,  and  be  swayed  by  an  in- 

[21] 


Mil 


^l^ifadAAdUttJi^iteMM 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


tense  passion  to  fulfil  them.    The  surest 
way  to  keep  abreast  of  the  times  and  to 
take  our  place  in  the  ranks  of  real  prog- 
ress is  not  simply  to  count  the  pulse  of  this 
•'  live,  throbbing  age  "—though  that  must 
be  done,  and  with  judicious  and  sympa- 
thetic hand  too— but  to  keep  sensitive  as 
well  to  those  efforts  and  longings  of  hu- 
manity which  bear  no  date  upon  them,  be- 
cause under  varied  forms  of  more  or  less 
imperfect    expression,     they     mark    the 
rhymthic  beat  of  the  great  heart  of  the 
world. 


[22] 


The  Profit  of  Failure 


"All  who  have  meant  good  work  with  their  whole  hearts 
have  done  good  work,  although  they  may  die  before  they 
have  time  to  sign  it."_R.  L.  Stevenson  :  W«  TripUx, 

"  Then,  welcome  each  rebuflF 
That  turns  earth's  smoothness  rough. 
Each  sting  that  bids  nor  sit  nor  stand  but  go  I 
Be  our  joys  three-parts  pain  1 
Strive,  and  hold  chwap  the  strain  ; 
Learn,  nor  account  the  pang ;  dare,  never  grudge  the  throe ! 

"  For  thence,— a  paradox 
Which  comforts  while  it  mocks,— 
Shall  life  succeed  in  that  it  seems  to  fail : 
What  I  aspired  to  be. 
And  was  not,  comforts  me  : 

A  brute  I  might  have  been,  but  would  not  sink  i'  the  scale." 
—Browning  :  Rabbi  Ben  Etra. 


i 


I 


The  Profit  of  Failure 


IN  one  of  Landor's  Imaginary  Conver- 
sations, Newton  says  to  Barrow,  "I 
am  not  quite  satisfied. "  To  which  Bar- 
row answers,  "  Those  who  are  quite  satisfied 
sit  still  and  do  nothing ;  those  who  are  not 
quite  satisfied  are  the  sole  benefactors  of 
the  world." 

Everything,  however,  depends  upon  the 
quality  of  discontent  and  the  direction  it 
takes.  If  one  aspires  to  strengthen  the 
wavering  lines  of  human  progress,  his 
grumbling  must  be  of  a  noble  kind.  There 
are  many  who  look  at  life  piecemeal,  ex- 
aggerating its  apparent  evils,  and  ignor- 
ing the  good  that  underlies  it.  They  do 
not  see  that  life  is  concerned  primarily 
with  the  building  up  of  character  rather 
than  the  assortment  of  conditions ;  and  so, 
[25] 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 

while  often  intensely  dissatisfied  wi^h  sur- 
roundings, they  are  by  no  means  oissatis- 
fied  with  themselves.  Their  conceit  breeds 
pessimism,  and  earth  seems  too  tiresome 
an  arena  for  the  hearty  display  of  their 
fastidious  energies.  Its  spell  is  broken,  its 
tasks  devoid  of  interest,  its  music  out  of 
tune. 

Thoughtful  and  earnest  minds,  on  the 
contrary,  instead  of  being  bored  by  the 
pettiness  of  life,  are  captivated  and  at  the 
same  time  appalled  by  its  grandeur.    The 
domain  is  so  rich  and  vast  that  none  can 
be  said  to  have  gleaned  in  all  its  fields, 
nor  even  set  foot  in  them.     Few  of  us  are 
as  much  alive  as  we  might  be,  nor  do  we 
always  make  the  best  of  what  life  we  have 
already.     Partial  attainment  runs  through 
everything,  and  the  most  sanguine  and 
intrepid  do  not  quite  escape  the  vexation 
of  monotonous  experiences  that  bring  de- 
spondent hours  when  it  seems  futile  to 
hope  that  the  "patchy  and  scrappy"  bits 

[26] 


rhe  Profit  of  Failure 

of  effort  shall  ever  be  wrought  into  a  whole 
of  perfect  loveliness. 

These  facts  are  troublesome,  no  doubt ; 
but  we  must  pay  for  being  made  on 
broader  lines  than  the  rest  of  creation. 
Even  an  agony  of  failure  is  preferable  to 
that  calm  indifference  from  which  all  lofty 
aim  is  gone.  Composure  would  be  pur- 
chased too  dear  at  the  price  of  the  soul's 
debasement.  If  denied  a  happiness  that 
dares  to  have  searching  eyes,  it  still  re- 
mains for  mankind  to  keep  a  nobility  of 
sorrow.  Anodynes  are  often  dangerous. 
"The  highest  calling  and  election,"  George 
Eliot  wrote,  "  is  to  do  witliout  opium,  and 
to  live  through  all  our  pain  with  conscious, 
clear-eyed  endurance."  Such  words  have 
a  pathetic  melancholy  about  them,  but  at 
the  same  time  they  breathe  a  protest 
against  the  annihilation  of  sensitiveness  in 
any  kind  of  false  Nirvana. 

Of  course,  that  which  ought  never  to 
have  been  must  needs  leave  its  baneful 
[27] 


i:  ! 


_^^^^ign  of  Fan t age 

mark  upon  us.    So'^er  thoughTTiT^ 
age  has  felt  compelled  to  recognize  the 
ruinous  consequences  of  wrong-doing,  and 
has  set  them  forth  sometimes  with  terrible 
distinctness.    The  pages  of  the  Hebrew 
seers  are  burdened  with  messages  of  retri- 
bution.    A  tragic  gloom  settles  over  the 
masterpieces  of  the  Greek  drama.    Some 
schools  of  modern  literature  seem  to  have 
an  almost  morbid  relish   for  discovering 
again  the  grim  irony  of  sin.  and  tracing 
the  footprints  of  inexorable  Nemesis.     And 
m  view  of  the  attempts  made  in  certain 
quarters  to  obscure  the  antagonism    be- 
tween good  and  evil,  or,  perhaps,  to  deny 
Its  existence,  can  any  voice  be  unheeded, 
even  though  it  takes  a  lower  tone  than  the 
ancient  prophets,    if  it  affords  some  re- 
minder of  the  essential  sanity  of  righteous- 
ness? 

But  something  more  remains  to  be  said 
m  order  to  bring  the  whole  truth  before  us. 
As  a  man  looks  back  upon  his  career,  and 
[  28  j 


7 he  Profit  of  Failure 


feels  that  it  might  have  been,  and  ought  to 
have  been  so  different,  if  he  is  now  awaked 
to  a  genuine  regret  and  an  honest  desire 
to  amend  his  ways,  an  infinitely  benignant 
Power  stands  behind  the  new  resolve,  and 
gives  another  chance  for  the  most  despair- 
ing heart  to  rejoice  once  more.  Any  sur- 
vey of  the  realm  of  law  is  deficient  which 
ignores  the  tireless  working  of  the  great 
law  of  love.  It  is  not  inevitable  that  the 
darkness  should  remain  unbroken  when 
there  is  a  real  longing  for  the  light.  Ibsen 
preaches  as  unmistakably  as  Paul  that 
"  the  wages  of  sin  is  death,"  but  the  earlier 
Realist  adds  that  "the  gift  of  God  is 
eternal  life  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." 
Failure  unlocks  the  dooi  of  wider  revela- 
tion. It  makes  us  humble,  and  that  in  no 
mere  whining  way.  Until  we  feel  that  we 
have  not  yet  attained,  why  should  we 
trouble  to  be  any  more  in  the  future  than 
we  are  now?  Moral  enthusiasm  lan- 
guishes in  an  atmosphere  of  vain  self-suf- 
[29] 


V 


The  C  .ign  of  y ant  age 


ficiency,  and   becomes  discredited  as  the 
mark  of  a  crude  and  undisciplined  nature. 
If  strenuousness  cannot  find  a  worthy  field 
of  exercise,  what  is  the  giKxI  of  having  it? 
The  very  sense  of  imperfection  proves  that 
we  are  not  altogether  blind  to  the  wondrous 
possibilities  yet  ahead  of  us,  and  thus  spurs 
to  further  effort.     And  as  we  press  on  to- 
wards the  heights  where  the  eternal  sun- 
shine plays,  our  sympathies  must  broaden 
towards  those  around   us,  committed  as 
they  are  to  the  same  kind  of  struggle,  and 
compassed  with  difficulties  and  inspirations 
not  unlike  our  own.     Nor  will  a  mere  for- 
mal religious  creed,  however  orthodox,  any 
longer  suffice  us.     We  shall  be  obliged  to 
go    down    to    the    very  roots    of    truth, 
separating  the  accidental   from   the  per- 
manent ;  and  the  ultimate  alternative  will 
be  either  practical  Atheism,  or  enduring 
faith   in   a  wise  and  patient  Father  who 
would  fain  have  us  draw  all  the  while  a 
litde  nearer  those  ideals  which  now,  per- 
[30] 


The  Profit  of  Failure 


haps,  tantalize  with  their  seeming  inacces- 
sibility. 

More  is  learned  oftentimes  from  w^at  we 
have  not  than  from  what  we  have,  and  we 
are  saved  from  drifting  into  commonplace, 
not  by  the  satisfaction  of  things  already  at- 
tained, but  by  the  challenge  of  the  unat- 
tained,  and,  it  may  be,  the  unattainable. 
For  surely  that  must  always  challenge  us. 

"The  peak  is  high,  and  the  stars  are  high, 
And  the  thought  of  a  man  is  higher." 

As  the  student  pursues  his  tasks,  he  de- 
sires more  and  more  to  enter  fresh  paths, 
and  pluck  strange  buds  of  promise.  To 
cross  the  threshold  of  the  art-world  and 
catch  a  glimpse  of  its  transcendent  beauty 
incites  a  longing  which  no  wealth  of  colour 
on  any  canvas  will  wholly  put  to  rest.  To 
lift  up-  eager  eyes  towards  the  unseen  and 
eternal,  and  to  be  stirred  in  the  depths  of 
the  soul  by  the  wooing  of  its  splendour,  is 
to  begin  a  search  that  will  not  be  ended 
[31] 


•r- 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


uniil  V  V .  11  s  found  the  Holy  Grail.  The 
prii  !:  >r  as!  rations  such  as  these  is  an 
evidei.,  ,  u!  human  greatness  ;  and  though 
some  suffering  may  be  involved,  it  would 
be  sadder  far  if  we  sank  into  the  sluggish 
ease  of 

"  Finished  and  finite  clods,  untroubled  by  a  spark." 

And,  therefore,  character  is  to  be  judged, 
not  alone  by  what  we  have  mastered,  but 
by  that   towards  which  we  are  striving. 
Human  nature  is  too  large  to  be  confined 
within  the  orbit  of  a  superficial  practicality 
which,  after  all,  is  not  really  practical.     For 
the  "  practical  "  man  is  the  man  who  does ; 
and  how  can  any  one  act  with  the  greatest 
reach  and  sweep  if  his  conduct  is  governed 
by  transient  caprice  and  not  by  majestic 
principles  that  make  him  forever  unsatis- 
fied   in   his  attempt   to   illustrate   them? 
The  road  trodden  by  the  mincing  step  of 
smug  conventionality  may  seem  smooth 
and  pleasant ;  but  it  is  unblessed  by  those 
[32] 


rhe  Profit  of  Failu 


re 


supernal  voices  that  call  to  endless  advance 
and  thus  give  proof  of  our  kinship  with  the 
living  God. 

While  paeans  to  the  conquerors  are 
plentiful  enough,  it  is  not  so  oiten  that  we 
hear  an  lo  Victis  / 


1'; 


"  The  hymn  of  the  low  and  the  humble,  the  weary, 

the  broken  in  heart, 
Who  strove  and  who  failed,  acting  bravely  a  silent 

and  desperate  part ; 
Whose  youth   bore  no  flower  in  its  branches, 

whose  hopes  burned  in  ashes  away, 
From  whose  hand  slipped  the  prize  they  had 

grasped  at,  who  stood  at  the  dying  of  day 
With  the  work  of  their  life  all  around  them,  un- 

pitied,  unheeded,  alone. 
With  death  swooping  down  on  their  failure,  and 

all  but  their  faith  overthrown." 

Can  any  one  imagine  that  these  will  never 
have  an  opportunity  to  retrieve  their  for- 
tunes in  the  divinest  way  ?  Behind  seem- 
ing defeat  in  a  high  purpose  there  often  lie* 
hidden  a  real  triumph  which  will  emerge  at 
last  so  that  all  can  see  it.  The  main  fault 
[33] 


% 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


in  the  popular  worship  of  success  is  that 
the  standard  is  pitched  too  low.  A  certain 
kind  of  success  can  be  reached  without 
crossing  any  Rubicon.  But  it  means  more 
to  self-development  to  essay  difficult  tasks 
than  to  complete  easy  ones.  The  Titans 
were  only  one  remove  from  the  immortals. 
A  large  nature  runs  risks  that  a  meagre 
nature  escapes.  Every  widening  of  the 
circle  of  life  makes  life  itself  more  hazard- 
ous. As  thought  grows  stronger,  as  feel- 
ing matures,  as  the  many-sided  play  of 
earth's  forces  gets  a  firmer  hold  upon  us, 
some  measure  of  sublime  failure  becomes 
more  and  more  possible. 

The  word  Finis  is  not  yet  written  in  the 
book  of  human  history.  Our  horizon  can- 
not be  bounded  by  the  senses,  nor  our 
deepest  instincts  viewed  as  mere  provin- 
cialisms of  this  planet  destined  to  vanish 
when  riper  knowledge  dawns  upon  us. 
Though  we  carry  nothing  else  out  of  the 
world,  we  carry  out  ourselves.  There  is 
[34] 


The  Profit  of  Failure 


continuity  in  the  threac!  of  existence,  and 
no  suddenness  about  sequels.  Life  is  in- 
tended to  be  a  long  crescendo,  marked  not 
only  by  gain  in  calmer  and  wiser  thought, 
in  the  ability  to  solve  more  complex  prob- 
lems and  to  discharge  more  arduous  tasks, 
but  also  by  those  growing  desires  that 
stimulate  to  spiritual  ascension.  It  will 
take  time  to  perfect  man.  Will  it  not  take 
eternity  ? 

"And  what  is  our  failure  here  but  a  triumph's 
evidence 
For  the  fuhiess  of  the  days?" 

The  various  seasons  of  existence  are 
given  us  that  we  may  reap  some  fruit  in 
all  of  them;  but  the  mof  ndant  har- 

vest is  still  in  store,  and  o.  ic  ardent 
soul,  stung  by  its  partial  attainment,  will 
be  able  to  put  to  the  highest  use  the  gifts 
of  the  limitless  future,  and  to  deploy  at 
large  in  that  pure  realm  from  which  earth's 
handicaps  are  gone. 

[35] 


% 


w* 


Criticism 


=1 


■^ 


'•  We  are  firm  believers  in  the  maxim  that,  for  all  right 
judgment  of  any  man  or  thing,  it  is  useful,  nay  essential,  to 
•ee  his  good  qualities  before  pronouncing  on  his  bad." 

— Carlyle  :  £ssa}'  on  Goethe. 

"  If  you  would  be  loved  as  a  companion,  avoid  unnecessary 
criticism  upon  those  with  whom  you  live.  The  number  of 
people  who  have  taken  out  judges*  patents  for  themselves  is 
Tery  large  in  any  society," 

— Sir  Arthur  Helps  :  Friends  in  Council. 


Criticism 


WHEN  one  is  said  to  be  in  a  critical 
mood,  it  often  means  nothing 
more  than  that  he  is  finding  faull 
with  something  or  somebody.  But  crit- 
icism and  censure  are  not  by  any  means 
synonymous.  Matthew  Arnold  defines  lit 
erary  criticism  as  "a  disinterested  en- 
deavour to  learn  and  propagate  the  best 
that  is  known  and  thought  in  the  world." 
In  carrying  out  such  an  aim,  it  may  be 
necessary  to  show  what  is  not  the  best,  and, 
perhaps,  to  make  a  direct  attack  upon  the 
palpably  base  and  worthless.  This  is  not 
to  be  done,  however,  for  the  mere  pleasure 
of  doing  it,  but  with  the  practical  purpose 
of  separating  the  chaff  from  the  wheat  in 
such  an  unmistakable  way  that  even  a  cas- 
ual observer  shall  have  little  trouble  in  de- 
tecting the  vast  difference  between  them. 
[39] 


I  ■■■ 
f  ft 

II 


■#¥■ 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


A  similar  method  may  be  followed  with 
safety  in  the  criticism  of  human  life.    He 
whose  chief  concern  is  to  examine  the  de- 
fects of  others  and  hold  them  up  to  ridicule 
cannot  fairly  be  called  a  critic.     Instead  of 
endeavouring  to  learn  and  propagate  the 
best,  his  main  anxiety  seems  to  be  to  bring 
the  worst  under  a  fierce  light.     The  passion 
for  scenting  out  falsehoods  does  not  always 
carry  with  it  a  passion  for  the  enthrone- 
ment of  truth.    What  the  world  needs  most 
is  not  an  army  of  those  who,  like  dogs  of 
mongrel  breed,  snap  and  growl  and  prey 
on  garbage,  but  men  of  pure  and  tender 
soul,  discerning  the  pathos  as  well  as  the 
shame  of  evil,   and   therefore  consumed 
with  a  strong  desire  to  put  their  arms 
around  every  fallen  brotiier  and  lift  him 
back  to  God. 

The  cridc,  too,  must  look  on  all  sides  of 

rhe  matter.     For  the  "  critic  "  means  the 

judge,  and  the  judge  is  not  a  partisan. 

He  runs  neither  to  the  extreme  of  malicious 

[40] 


Criticism 


heat  nor  of  frigid  listlessness.     His  object 
is  to  weigh  every  item  of  evidence  whether 
fa\  curable  or  otherwise,  and  to  draw  un- 
biassed conclusions  from  all  the  facts  before 
him.     The  number  of  judges  in  the  moral 
realm  is  extremely  small ;  the  special  plead- 
ers can  be  found  almoj^t  any;vhere,  alert 
for    occupation.     No    one  need   wish  to 
court    the    judge's    grave   responsibility. 
We  are  seldom  able  to  form  an  exhaustive 
estimate  of  other  people.     Even  with  the 
best  intentions  we  may  greatly  overrate  or 
underrate  them,  simply  for  want  of  sufficient 
knowledge.     But,  at  all  events,  it  is  the  ju- 
dicial temper  that  we  should  seek  to  culti- 
vate.    The  verdict  of  prejudice  or  personal 
animosity,  though  it  often  does  a  good  deal 
of  harm,  is  ruled  out  by  every  thoughtful 
mind  as  of  no  value  at  all. 

There  never  was  any  one  in  the  world, 
no  matter  how  lofty  in  virtue,  who  has  not 
been  spoken  of  by  some  in  a  tone  of  sneer- 
ing depreciation.     Even  Christ  did  not  es- 
[41] 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


cape  the  slanderous  tongues  around  Him. 
Were  we  content  to  accept  the  gossip  of 
the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  we  should  have 
to  picture  a  man  litde  better  than  a  drunk- 
ard or  a  rouk.  And  if  this  happened  to 
the  Perfect  One,  what  might  happen  to  us 
who  have  plenty  of  faults  which  zealous 
sport,  if  it  will,  may  turn  into  a  hunting- 
ground  ?  There  is  in  most  people  a  curious 
mixture  of  good  and  bad,  of  grandeur  and 
meanness.  The  worst  have  their  redeem- 
ing features,  and  the  best  some  strange  in- 
consistencies and  perplexing  contradic- 
tions. Verj  'c'w  mora!  portraits  are  so 
handsome  iu  <;very  detail  that  they  will 
bear  even  the  mildly  exaggerated  touch  of 
the  caricaturist,  much  less  the  utter  disfig- 
urement of  deliberate  misrepresentation. 
It  would  be  a  doubtful  benefit  to  see  our- 
selves as  others  see  us  if  there  was  not  at 
least  a  measure  of  accuracy  in  their  vision. 
Human  nature  can  never  be  judged  by 
its  weakest  qualities,  even  when  we  are 
[42] 


rttictsm 


quite  sure  that  the  weakness  w  hich  stirs 
our  disdain   really  exists,   and   is   not  a 
phantom   of  the  imagination.     A  farmer 
would   not   report  his  average  crop  cor- 
rectly if  he  geL\Q  the  slender  yield  from 
one    poor  acre.     Nor   would  a  merchant 
make  a  just  estimate  of  his  annual  percent- 
age of  gain  if  he  picked  out  those  periods 
when  trade  was  dullest.     If  we  have  a  few 
rainy    days   in  spring,  only  a  confirmed 
croaker  would  describe  the  whole  season 
as  dark  and  cheerless.     There  is  a  side  of 
almost  every  one  that  resembles  the  bar- 
ren field,  or  the  unsuccessful  week,  or  the 
storm-swept  sky.     But   we  shall  not  dis- 
cover the  man  himself  by  picking  him  to 
pieces,  and  spreading  out  the  least  attrac- 
tive bii     ■  r  minute  analysis.     That  kind 
of  vivisection  is  simple  barbarity,  and  re- 
veals no  scientific  secrets.     If  we  want  to 
know  our  fellows,  we  must  appreciate  the 
best  to  which  they  have  attained,  and  be- 
hind that,  we  must  have  some   glimpse 
[43] 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


into  the  undeveloped  best  of  which  they 
may  yet  be  capable.  While  the  ebb-tide 
lays  bare  a  ragged  margin,  unsightly,  per- 
haps, in  its  tangled  disarray,  it  is  the  high- 
water  mark  that  tells  the  real  strength  of 
the  sounding  sea. 

It  is  inevitable,  of  couise,  that  we  should 
form  opinions.    Some  power  of  criticism 
belongs  to  every  one ;  and  since  it  cannot 
be  thrown  away  without  losing  part  of  our- 
selves, the  obvious  duty  is  to  employ  it  with 
jealous  care.     Man  keeps  his  preeminence 
over  the  rest  of   living  creatures  largely 
because  of  his  superior  faculty  of  judgment. 
If  he  proceeds  with  unreflecting  step  along 
the  road  of  life,  not  taking  any  pains  to 
separate  what  seems  to  be  from  what  is,  he 
can  never  do  his  share  of  the  world  ,  work 
as  it  was  intended  that  he  should  do  it. 
One  of  the  gifts  of  a  well-trained  mind  lies 
in  a  nice  discrimination  that  does  not  call 
for   the  constant  use  of  superlatives,  nor 
alternate   between   hysterical    enthusiasm 
[44] 


Criticism 


and   wild   blows   with  a  sledge-hammer. 
Shallow  estimates  are  usually  wanting  in 
liyht  and  shade.     Both  praise  and  blame 
come  too  easily.     And  though  this  kind  of 
comment  may  be  voluble  in  its  confidence, 
one  feels  in  a  measure  degraded  if  he  stops 
to    listen    to  it.      Earnest  thought  some- 
times hesitates  to  express  itself.     But  when 
it  speaks,  it  speaks  to  the  purpose,  and  its 
words  have  weight.     Every  one  who  has 
learned  to  distinguish  between  good  and 
bad  art  or  literature  or  life,  and  is  not  afraid 
to   give  utterance  to  his  views,    becomes 
an  educational  force  that  raises  the  whole 
standard    of   things.     And   though   there 
is   plenty  of  room  for  the  further  growth 
of  a  sane  public  sentiment  even  in  the  most 
"advanced"  communities,  we  should  be 
still  barbarous  if  it  were  wanting  altogether. 
Until  the  critical  faculty  is  so  developed 
among  a  people  that  it  creates  a  demand 
for  what  is  excellent  in  every  sphere  of 
thought  and  action,  the  State  may  be  rich 
[45] 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


and  increased  with  goods,  but  it  can  never 
rise  to  true  national  greatness. 

And   as  a  preliminary  step  to  judging 
our  fellows,  we  had  better  learn  to  judge 
ourselves.     If  we  are  bound  to  find  fault, 
is    there    any  sufficient   reason   why   we 
should  always  go  abroad  to  begin  it  ?    How 
different  the  world  if  men  were  as  severe 
upon  their  own  errors  as  upon  those  of 
others  I     It  would  scarcely  be  known  that 
some  people  had  a  conscience  but  for  their 
indignant  outcry  against  the  shortcomings 
of    their    neighbours.     They    talk  about 
"this  wicked  world  "  as  though  they  dwelt 
in  some  far-off,  blameless  planet,  and  were 
of  different  material  from  the  ordinary  run 
of  mortals. 

"  They  gutsy,  donnered  ither  folk, 
Their  weird  thev  weel  may  dree ; 
But  why  present  a  pig  in  a  jaoke 
To  a  gentleman  like  me  ?  " 

"It   is    matter  of  great   difficulty,"  says 

Coleridge  in  his  Aids  to  Reflection  "and 

[46] 


Criticism 

requires  no  ordinary  skill  and  address,  to 
fix  the  attention  of  men  on  the  world  within 
them,  to  induce  them  to  study  the  proc- 
esses and  superintend  the  works  which  they 
are  themselves  carrying  on  in  their  own 
minds  ;  in  short,  to  awaken  in  them  both 
the  faculty  of  thought  and  the  inclination 
to  exercise  it.     For,  alas  1  the  largest  por- 
tion   of    mankind    are    nowhere    greater 
strangers  than  at  home. "     But  this  strange- 
ness must  wear  off  if  we  wish  to  have  a 
just  understanding  of  others  or  to  be  of 
service  to  them.     He  who  has  not  yet  cast 
out  the  beam  from  his  own  eye  is  much 
handicapped  in  attempting  a  delicate  piece 
of  work  upon  his  brother's  eye ;  and  the 
difificulty  will  not  be  diminished  if  he  is  un- 
aware of  any  beam  at  all.     When  one  has 
felt  the  strength   of   the  forces  that  war 
against  the  true  welfare  of  life ;  when  he 
has  reviewed  his  own  bitter  defeats  as  well 
as  his  hard-won  victories  ;  when  the  honest 
desire  of  the  spirit  has  been  flung  back 
[47] 


Jtmrnmrn 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


upon  him  by  the  weakness  of  the  flesh, 
such  a  man  finds  something  else  to  do 
than  denounce   his   comrades,  and  push 
them  farther  down  than  they  are  already. 
Discerning  how  foolish  is  every  evil  way, 
he    would    fain    see   wisdom  triumphant 
everywhere.     But  since  he  has  learned  to 
know  himself,  he  goes  about  his  crusade 
with  a  pitiful  heart.     He  makes  due  allow- 
ance   for    individual    circumstances    and 
temperament.     If  he  is  not  sure,  he  gives 
the   benefit  of   the  doubt;  and  his  main 
concern  is  not  to  demolish  reputation,  but 
to  build  up  character.     He   may  not  be 
liked  by  the  groundlings,  who  would  pre- 
fer to  be  left  alone.     But  even  they  must 
feel  that  his  praise  is  like  a  healthy,  stim.u- 
lating  breeze,  and  his  blame  a  righteous 
retribution. 

If  everything  that  is  called  criticism  had 

this  high  temper  and  aim,  it  would  bless 

both  him  that  gives  and  him  that  takes  it. 

But  the  truth  has  to  be  confessed  that  if 

[48] 


Criticism 


some  garrulous  censors  ever  were  the  salt 
of  the  earth,  in  the  process  of  wholesale 
abuse,  they  have,  for  the  most  part,  lost 
their  savour.      Even   that  commendable 
impulse,   a  "sense  of  duty."  sometimes 
bears  the  burden  of  many  peculiar  actions. 
It    may    be  that   under    his  anonymous 
covering  "  vour  well-wisher,"  "your  faith- 
ful friend,"     r.,        ^^q  p^^yg  for  you,"  con- 
ceals an  honest  desire  to  benefit.     But  it  is 
to  be  feared  that  he  seldom  accomplishes 
it.     For  in  the  majority  of  cases,  he  irri- 
tates more  than  the  man  who  speaks  right 
out.     The  habit  of  stone-throwing  is  open 
to  objection  even  when  you  don't  know 
whether  those  who  indulge  in  it  live  in 
glass    houses  themselves.      It  hurts  the 
poor  fellow  who  is  hit  with  one  of  them 
quite  as  much  as  if  he  could  hit  back. 

There  is  a  still  lower  deep  into  which  it 

is  not  pleasant  to  look,  and  which,  let  us 

hope,  is  sparsely  inhabited.     Those  whose 

poisonous  tongues  dart  forth  their  deadly 

[49] 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


venom  may  injure  others  beyond  repair ; 
but  they  show  at  the  same  time  that  their 
own  soul   has  gone  to   herd   among  the 
swine,  and  that  the  memory  of  earth's  un- 
spotted  ones,  some  of  whom  they  may 
have  known,  has  vanished  from  their  mud- 
stained  consciousness.     To  find  an  almost 
fiendish  delight  in  the  faults  of  others,  and 
to  make  a  specialty  of  adding  to  them ;  to 
couple  the  lowest  motives  with  the  highest 
course  of  conduct ;  to  transfer  a  vile  read- 
ing of  things  to  minds  that  are  incapable 
of  even  imagining  such  an  interpretation— 
this  can  never  contribute  to  the  social  or 
moral  welfare  of  any  place  less  foul  than 
hell.     Those  who  sink  to  such  infamy  are 
worse  than  the  bold  robber  who  takes  his 
chances  with  you  in  the  open  road,  be- 
cause they  lurk  like  cowards  behind  the 
hedge,  and  stab  you  in  the  dark. 

Amid  earth's  imperfect  judgments,  the 
supremely  important  thing  is  to  look  with 
honest  gaze  into  the  mirror  of  truth,  and 
[50] 


Criticism 

try  to  discern  what  we  are  really  like  in 
the  sight  of  God.     Oliver  Wendell  Holmes 
in   The  Poet  at  the  Breakfast  Table,  says, 
"I  should  like  to  see  any  man's  biography 
with  corrections  and  emendations  by  his 
ghost."     But,  perhaps,  it  would  be  more 
startling  still,  if  it  were  an  autobiography, 
to   read    the    foot-notes  and  appendices 
which  a  conscientious  ghost  felt  compelled 
to    insert    in    the  unexpurgated   edition. 
Frank    and    fearless  self-criticism  is  the 
soul's  house-cleaning  which  drives  out  un- 
holy traffickers  who  might  otherwise  find 
free  lodgings  there  for  an  ind         «  period. 
And  while  it  will  not  prevent  tht  •  ■'ticism 
of  others,  nor,  at  times,  it  may  be,  their 
harsh  and  ignorant  condemnation,  it  dis- 
arms it  all  of  its  bitter  sting.     To  be  able 
to  go  through  the  world  undismayed  by 
evil  report,  protected  against  the  shafts  of 
ridicule  or  enmity—that  is  something,  and 
it  is  the  reward  of  the  pure  in  heart.     If 
any  one  speaks  ill  of  us,  the  worst  sufferine 
[51] 


-''"■*"— 


ii 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


comes  when  we  know  that  it  is  substan- 
tially true.  If  it  is  not,  then  slander  is  like 
the  angry-surge  which  beats  against  the 
granite  rock  in  vain. 


[52] 


Secret  Inspirations 


Ml 


••  This  ii  the  curse  of  life  I  that  not 
A  nobler,  calmer  train 
Of  wiser  Ihoughte  and  feelinfp  blot 
Our  passions  from  our  brain ; 

••  But  each  day  brings  its  petty  dust 
Our  soon-choked  souls  to  fill, 
And  we  forget  because  we  must 
And  not  because  we  will." 

—Matthew  Arnold:  Absence. 

»  But  there  will  come  another  era  when  it  shall  be  light, 
and  man  will  awaken  from  his  lofty  dreams,  and  find-his 
dreams  still  there,  and  that  nothing  is  gone  but  his  sleep." 

— RiCHTU:  Hesperus. 


Secret  Inspirations 

WITHOUT   a    background    that 
stretches  away  into  the  illimit- 
able   distance,   the    picture  of 
life,   no    matter    how    gaudily    coloured, 
is  poor  and  shallow.     The  springs  of  all 
sincere  and  heroic  action  lie  hidden  in  the 
hills  of  splendid  dream.     Not  what  the  eye 
sees,  but  what  the  heart  feels,  determines 
the  rank  of  character.    The  psalms  chanted 
in  the  soul's  sanctuary  waft  their  echoes 
over  the  whole  plain  of  practical  experience, 
and  the  big  world  outside  looks  to  the 
litde  world  inside  to  interpret  and  glorify  it. 
Under  no  circumstances,  therefore,  can 
the  intrusion  of  ideals  be  regarded  as  an 
impertinence.     The  young  child  is  all  the 
better  for  wandering  at  times  into  fairy- 
land,  building  "castles  in  the  air,"  and 
[55] 


.mmi 


W6LiUv.JS,4tU5'L 


"I 

!<      f 

.1    i 


TheCoign  of  Vantage 


I 


peopling  the  prosaic  earth  with  the  crea- 
tures of  his  bright  imagination.    Though 
the  zealous  student  may  seem  to  some 
only  a  foolish   enthusiast,   throwing    his 
chances  of  pleasure  away,  yet  if,  amid  all 
his  toil  and  discouragement,  the  rich  re- 
wards of  knowledge  are  kept  in  view,  he 
is  more  than  satisfied  with  the  hope  of 
some  day  gaining  them.     The  lovf  r  brings 
an  unreserved  devotion  to  the  feet  of  his 
mistress,  and  puts  ell  he  values  most  into 
her  keeping.    Cynics  may  tell  him  that 
such  constancy  is  wasted,  and  that  the 
answer  to  his  faith  will  be  determined  by 
motives  of  self-interest.     But  this  is  not  his 
idea  of  womanhood,  still  less  of  the  one 
woman  he  would  call  his  own.     If  the  re- 
former, confronted  with  stolid  indifference, 
or,  perhaps,  with  brutal  hostility,  thought 
of  personal  ease,  he  would  let  things  go  as 
they  are.     But  he  is  haunted  by  the  pres- 
ence of  a  mysterious  loveliness,  and  can- 
not rest  until  he  has  done  his  utmost  to 
[56] 


Secret    Inspirations 


have  a  temple  built  to  it  on  life's  highway, 
and  thronged  with  reverent  worshippers. 
These  cherished  inspirations  in  a  large 
measure  determine  what  names  shall  ap- 
pear on  the  roll  of  the  immortals.     Galileo, 
"vehemently  suspected  of  heresy,"   and 
condemned  to  imprisonment  at  the  pleasure 
of  his  judges,  still  held  to  the  truth  which 
his  labours  had  revealed,  and  so  opened 
the  door  to  a  wider  acquaintance  with 
Nature's  laws.     Exiled  from  Florence,  and 
disinherited    by    his    fellow  countrymen, 
Dante    would    never    have    written    the 
Divina  Commedia  but  for  the  stirrings  of 
unselfish  patriotism  and  of  pure  love  for 
the    gentle   Beatrice.     Savonarola  thun- 
dered forth  his  warning  messages,  and  at 
last  dared  the  fires  of  martyrdom,  because 
his  vehement  nature  always  kept  before  it 
the  image  of  a  regenerated  Church  in  which 
every  unwholesome  fettering  of  conscience 
should  be  destroyed.     Baffled  in  his  fond- 
est hopes, 

[57] 


,-jg»t.--«-'dMa<-JJi.*«L 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


"  Though  fall'n  on  evil  days 
On  evil  days  thrugh  fali'n  and  evil  tongues, 
In  darkness  and    -ith  dangers  compassed  round 
And  solitude/' 

John  Miltoi  wci  Irl  w.  t  abandon  the  ideal 
Republic  of   h  s   ..u',  but  bequeathed  to 
future  generati  i.^  itu.'  Hchest  inheritance  of 
Puritanism  in  his  jr-eat  epic.     The  passion 
to  put  into  orru  "d   term  ''••_  music  that 
was    surging      '..r  >,  ■       nis    brain    kept 
Beethoven  constant      >      s  tasks  though 
some  people  th  )ught  him  mad.     Looking 
back    upon  accumulated   misfortunes   he 
says,  "  Such  things  as  these  brought  me  to 
the  verge    of  desperation,  and  well-nigh 
caused  me  to  put  an  end  to  my  existence. 
Art  I    Art  alone  deterred  me.     I  could  not 
quit  the  world  until  I  had  brought  forth  all 
that  I  felt  it  was  my  vocation  to  produce." 
This   power  of  spiritual   vision   marks 
man  out  from  every  other  creature,  and 
the  quality  and  range  of  it  are  the  key- 
stones of  his  greatness.     As  long  as  some 
[58] 


Secret  Inspirations 


high   goal   beckons  "above  the  howling 
senses'  ebb  and  flow,"  almost  anything  is 
possible.      Mere  intellect  alone  will   not 
suffice  for  the  accomplishment  of  arduous 
tasks  unless  suppt)rted  by  a  resolute  pur- 
pose that   fills  the   whole   house  of  life. 
However  muc  h  the  kings  of  men  differ  in 
the  type  of  their  special  aims  or  the  way 
they  seek  to  reach  them,  they  are  enabled 
because  of  secret  hopes  to  maintain  the 
struggle  against  opposing  forces,  and  to 
show  a  reserve  of  strength  that  will  not  be 
dismayed.    The  joy  towards  which  they 
aspire  is  no  immediate  or  tangible  gratifi- 
cation.    It  is  harboured  in  the  soul  in  spite 
of  appearances  that  sei  m  to  render  its  ad- 
vent impossible,  and  its  sublime  idealism 
throws  over  the  hard  road  of  duty  a  flood 
of  fadeless  light. 

"  We  are  near  awakening,"  says  Novalis, 

"  when  we  dream  that  we  dream  ; "  and  we 

are  fully  awake  when  all  that  is  best  in  our 

dreams    remains    with   us.      Every    one 

[59] 


II 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


dreams  good  dreams  now  and  then,  at 
least.  But  with  some  the  dreams  are  al- 
lowed to 

"  Die  away, 
And  fade  into  the  light  of  common  day," 

while  with   others  they  are  gradually  in- 
wrought into  the  tissue  of  experience.     It 
is  seldom  that  any  career  turns  out  just  as 
was  anticipated.     No  foresight  can  pos- 
sibly provide  against  all  the  things  that 
may  be  encountered  between  the  starting- 
point  and   the  goal.     But  the  certainties 
of     life    far    outweigh    its    uncertainties. 
Though  we  have  no  assured  information 
with  regard  to  every  coming  event,  we 
may  know  that,   whatever  happens,  the 
same  eternal  principles  govern  both  yester- 
days and  to-morrows,  that  right  is  never 
changed  into  wrong,  nor  good  into  evil. 
The  pathetic  chasm  which  so  often  yawns 
between  dream  and  reality  is  not  the  fault 
of  accident,  but  of  personal  failure  to  illus- 
[60] 


Secret   Inspirations 


trate  the  deepest  convictions  of  the  soul. 
We  ourselves  have  much  to  do  with  deter- 
mining what  our  future  shall  be.    That 
pillar  erected  by  Absalom  in  the  flush  of 
youthful  pride  might  have  turned  out  a 
fitting  monument.     It  was  his  own  perfid- 
ious   ambition  that  spoiled  the  prospect, 
and  exchanged  the  splendid  cenotaph  for 
a  grave  of  shame.     No  doubt  the  actual 
self  is  prone  to  lag  behind  the  ideal  self. 
But  if  the  finished  picture  in  the  inner  room 
of    consciousness    is  not   reproduced,   in 
strong  outiine  at  least,  upon  the  wall  of  life, 
we  shall  feel  some  day  a  keen  regret  that 
we  ever  looked  upon  its  reproachful  beauty. 
Vision  becomes  embarrassing  and  at  times 
tragic  if  we  persist  in  being  disobedient  to 
it. 

For  spiritual  gifts  have  to  be  reckoned 
with.  A  purely  materialistic  philosophy  is 
now,  for  the  most  part,  discredited  as  a 
satisfactory  explanation  of  all  that  is  in 
man.  A  good  deal  of  the  sorrow  of 
[6i] 


ik 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


this    age    does    not    arise    from  lack  of 
faith,   but  from  weakness   of  moral  pur- 
pose.    It  is  like  the  sorrow  of  Hamlet, 
vexed  on  the  one  hand  by  an  enlarged 
sense  of  duty,  and  on  the  other  hand  by 
the  faltering  power  to  face  and  fulfil  it. 
That  way  madness  lies.     We  need  not 
dread  our  scepticisms  half  as  much  as  our 
unexecuted  convictions.     If  we  would  be 
happy,  the  alternative  is  either  to  believe 
less  or  to  practice  more.     No  doubt  there 
are  varying  degrees  of  spiritual  insight; 
but  the  great  difference  between  men  is 
caused  mainly  by  the  manner  in  which 
they  deal  with  their  own  present  resources. 
Some  are  so  easily  influenced  by  baser 
motives  that  even  while  the  after-glow  of 
noble  thoughts  still  shoots  up  above  the 
horizon,   they  are  doing  ignoble  deeds. 
The  very  same  wish  may  lead  to  opposite 
results,  according  as  it  is  only  a  wish  lazily 
nursed  in  some  lotus-eating  land,  or  is 
oacked  up 'by  the  tireless  activity  of  an 

[62] 


'fl 


Secret  Inspirations 


heroic  soul.  "  Between  the  condition  of 
many  decent  members  of  society  and  that 
for  which  God  made  them,"  says  George 
Macdonald  in  his  Seaboard  Parish, 
"  there  is  a  gulf  fixed  quite  as  vast  as  be- 
tweei.  a  serpent  and  a  bird."  And  some- 
times, it  might  be  added,  the  bird  has 
the  serpent  coiled  around  it,  so  that  it 
flutters  in  a  vain  effort  to  soar  aloft, 
and  at  last  falls  to  the  giound  in  mortal 
pain. 

If  the  question  were  asked  why  a  few 
pure  aims,  at  least,  have  kept  their  hold 
upon  us,  the  answer  must  often  be  that 
some  one  has  brought  out  the  best  in  our 
nature,  and  enabled  us  to  discern  its 
supreme  significance.  Those  who  break 
loose  from  the  bondage  of  inconsiderate 
custom  or  selfish  expediency,  and  come 
under  the  sway  of  a  heaven-bom  enthusi- 
asm, are  the  true  pioneers  of  progress, 
and  have  a  compelling  power  about 
them. 

[63] 


jThe  Coign  of  Vantage 


\\\ 


••  Surely  whoever  speaks  to  me  in  the  right  voice, 
him  or  her  I  shall  follow, 
As  the  water  follows  the  moon,  silently,  with  fluid 
steps  anywhere  around  the  globe." 

It  is  hard  to  be  quite  false  to  the  belief  of 
these    good    angels    in   our  possibilities. 
While  their  influence  must  needs  be  great- 
est when  closely  personal,  and  kindled  in 
the  flame  of  passionate  love,  yet,  no  matter 
where  they  are  now,  or  how  remote  our 
relationships  with  them  at  any  time,  we 
share  with  others  a  precious  gift  of  God 
that  sweetens  the  whole  vital  atmosphere, 
and  sheds  some  gleams  of  light  upon  the 
path  of  unborn  generations. 

For  life  is  not  concerned  with  visible 
things  alone,  but  with  the  high  hopes  and 
yearnings  of  the  soul.  No  doubt,  from 
some  points  of  view,  this  is  a  matter-of-fact 
world.  Its  stem  realities  confront  us  all, 
and  tend  at  times  to  make  us  stem  like 
them.  But  though  only  an  unnatural 
Stoicism  would  boast  of  being  wholly  unaf- 
[64] 


Secret  Inspirations 


fected  by  immediate  surroundings,  it  is  a 
poor  existence  that  depends  on  them  alone. 
Our  true  nourishment  is  to  be  sought  else- 
where than  in  the  market-place.  The  per- 
sistence with  which,  despite  ill-treatment, 

"  In  man's  self  arise 
August  anticipations,  symbols,  types 
Of  a  dim  splendour  ever  on  before," 

seems  to  prove  that,  he  may,  if  he  will, 
move  a  litde  nearer  the  heights  towards 
which  they  lead  his  too  reluctant  feet.    To 
think  otherwise  would  be  to  turn  our  inspi- 
rations into  a  grim  irony.    The  truth  is  that 
no  one  can  adequately  interpret  the  mean- 
ing or  learn   the   full  uses  of  the  things 
around  him  unless  he  is  conscious  of  some 
One,  in  His  heaven,  of  course,  but  in  His 
earth  also,  flooding  it  with  a  divine  radi- 
ance.    If  the  glory  of  the    unseen  and 
eternal   were    taken  away   from   life,   its 
drama  would  soon  become  so  listless  that 
we  niijjrbit  oirell  pray  for  some  kind  hand  to 
[65] 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


drop  the  curtain  at  once  and  forever.  He 
who  sweeps  the  widest  circle  of  attainment 
always  has  his  vision  and  his  dream,  and 
though  the  voice  of  the  scorner  may  be 
heard  in  mocking  protest,  the  ultimate 
triumph  of  those  who  have  dared  to  be 
true  to  the  noblest  ideals  is  the  great  sur- 
prise of  universal  history. 


[66] 


(' 


God*s  Gentleman 


V 

I 

f 


"  Nor  CTcr  narrownen  or  tpite, 
Or  villain  fancy  fleeting  by, 
Drew  in  the  expression  of  an  eye, 
Where  God  and  Nature  met  in  light ; 

-  And  thus  he  bore  without  abuse 

The  grand  old  name  of  gentleman, 
Defamed  by  every  charlatan. 
And  soil'd  with  all  ignoble  use." 

—Tennyson  :  In  Mtmoriam. 


m 


% 


'■  ='^^*^-*TrtfcL.»'*tu4aa»,«iit,-i«i^-. 


Gocts  Gentleman 


\ 


WHEN  we  begin  to  sicken  of  a 
word  not  in  itself  repulsive,  it 
seems  time  to  consider  why  it 
has  been  brought  into  odium,  and,  if  pos- 
sible, to  restore  its  right  significance. 
The  gendeman  should  not  be  consigned 
to  the  lumber-room  of  discarded  vanities 
until  we  have  had  a  fair  look  at  him. 

In  so  far  as  such  things  can  be  dealt 
with  by  mathematics,  it  rather  understates 
the  case  to  say  that  conduct  is  three- 
fourths  of  life.  Conduct  is  at  least  an  in- 
dex of  the  temper  underlying  the  whole  of 
life.  Brutus  reproached  Cassius  with  his 
indifference,  and  the  latter  bids  him  not  to 
be  grieved, 

«•  Nor  construe  any  further  my  neglect 
Than  that  poor  Brutus  with  himself  at  war 
Forgets  the  shows  of  love  to  other  men." 

[69] 


n 


k 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


m  ■ 


;« 


A  good  deal  is  told  about  any  one  by  ob- 
serving the  way  he  acts  in  presence  of  his 
fellows ;  and  as  a  rule,  it  indicates  a  de- 
pressed tone  of  moral  health  not  to  have 
some  aptitude  for  genial  human  intercourse. 
That  wonderful  movement  of  the  first  Chris- 
tian century  which,  in  so  many  instances, 
transfigured  the  rough  and^boorish  villager 
who  is  literally  a  "  pagan,"  into  a  "  polite" 
man,  a  citizen,  accomplished  this  startling 
change  by  means  of  nothing  less  than  an 
inner  reformation.  All  sincere  courtesy  is 
deep-rooted.  Unlike  those  merchants  who 
display  their  best  goods  in  the  shop-win- 
dow, its  chief  treasures  are  brought  out  for 
those  who  have  most  need  of  them. 

Dickens,  in  Little  Dorrit,  has  given 
us  the  portrait  of  Mr.  Casby,  the  bold  ex- 
panse of  whose  patriarchal  countenance 
was  so  valuable  to  himself  and  so  disap- 
pointing to  everybody  else.  He  seemed 
brimful  of  benevolence  if  one  could  only 
lay  hold  of  it.  But  he  was  "  a  mere  inn- 
[70] 


God^s  Gentleman 


sign-post  without  any  inn — an  invitation  to 
rest  and  be  thanlcful,  when  there  was  no 
place  to  put  up  at,  and  nothing  to  be 
thankful  for ; "  so  that  Pancks  the  gypsy, 
in  spite  of  his  wiry  hair  and  black  chin, 
proved  a  much  better  friend  to  the  poor 
tenants  down  in  Bleeding  Heart  Yard. 
One  may  say,  "  Depart  in  peace,  be  ye 
warmed  and  filled"  in  such  an  unctuous 
tone  that  for  the  moment  it  sounds  like 
a  benediction.  But  words  will  not  light 
any  fire,  nor  turn  an  imaginary  loaf  into  a 
real  one.  The  gentleman  does  not  pose, 
nor  indulge  in  vain  rhetoric,  but  hastens 
to  seek  the  most  appropriate  way  of  show- 
ing his  gentleness.  Exteriors  afford  nc 
absolutely  sure  criterion  in  the  matter.  I. 
pleasing  appearance  may  be  only  the  mask 
that  hides  a  cruel  and  selfish  heart,  and  the 
moment  it  is  thrown  off,  the  hypocrite 
stands  revealed  in  all  his  grim  deform- 
ity. A  photograph  of  the  Good  Sa 
maritan  might  have  looked  much  less 
[71] 


i 


if  ii 


T^e  Coign  of  Vantage 


promising   thati    that    of    the    Priest    or 
Levite. 

And  yet,  unless  life  is  to  be  one  long  il- 
lusion, some  correspondence  will  surely  be 
found  between  manners  and  character.    It 
is  not  excess  of  virtue,  but  its  defect,  that 
produces    suriiness.      The    gentle    spirit 
must  at  last  shine  through  the  thickest 
covering,  and  be  taught  instinctively  by  a 
chivalrous  aim  how  best  to  go  about  its 
accomplishment.     And  method  counts  for 
a  good  deal.    Your  "plain,  blunt  man,"  is 
all    very  well    when    he  refuses  to  call 
things  by  names  which  do  not  describe 
them ;  but  if  he  rather  prides  hknself  on 
being  rude,  he  becomes  a  nuisance,  and 
has  poor  reason  to  assume  airs  of  supe- 
riority.    The  number  of  those  who  can  be 
dragooned  into  wholesome  ways  of  living 
is  so  small  that  we  may  neglect  it  for  prac- 
tical  purposes.      The  true   gentleman   is 
never  unfeeling.     It  is  his  last  resort  to 
wear  a  frown,  or  lift  his  voice  in  maledic- 
[72] 


God's  Gentleman 


tion.  He  takes  pains  not  to  offend  need- 
lessly ;  and  though  this  may  be  a  trying 
world,  he  dot's  not  forget  that  he  is  part  of 
it.  He  is  calm,  temperate,  modest,  more 
the  pleader  than  the  judge ;  and  when  he 
has  to  judge,  it  is  with  that  heavenly  sor- 
row which  "  strikes  where  it  doth  love." 

This  does  not  mean  that  gentleness  is  to 
be  classed  among  the  moral  invertebrates. 
It  has  plenty  of  backbone,  and  a  clear  in- 
sight into  the  pith  of  human  necessities. 
While  prepared  to  aid  any  measures  fur 
outward  improvement,  and  to  take  into 
account  those  gradually-evolving  processes 
of  civilization  which  tend  to  eliminate  cer- 
tain gfrosser  forms  of  vice,  it  still  believes 
that  the  great  panacea  for  the  world's 
troubles  is  to  be  found  in  the  ennobling 
and  purifying  of  the  hearts  of  men.  And 
therefore,  though  intensely  practical,  it 
does  not  blunder  about  aimlessly,  nor  put 
the  emphasis  in  the  wrong  place.  Many 
of  the  ancient  philosophers  exhibit  an  un* 
[73] 


It 


!»-• 
^1^ 


AAi 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


dertone  of  disdain  in  speaking  of  a  quality 
which  seemed  to  them  to  have  none  of  the 
wisdom  of  the  serpent,  and  a  superfluous 
amount  of  the  harmlessness  of  the  dove. 
But  the  really  benign  spirit,  so  far  from 
being  easily  imposed  upon,  or  made 
neglectful  of  ethical  differences,  survives 
in  spite  of  the  rage  a  pure  nature  will 
always  feel  against  what  is  vile,  and  finds 
in  its  just  grief  and  anger  an  added  stim- 
ulus to  continue  its  work  patiently  to  the 
end. 

Goldsmith's  Village  Preacher  must  have 
possessed  an  enviable  disposition  when 

"E'en  his  failings  lean'd  to  virtue's  side." 

It  is  not  impossible  to  swing  to  the  opposite 
extreme,  so  that  even  virtues  lean  to  fail- 
ings' side.  The  best  gifts  that  a  man  can 
have,  if  they  are  not  to  become  stale, 
necessitate  assiduous  care  in  their  preser- 
vation and  mode  of  exercise.  What  is 
called  gentleness  may  lose  its  subtle 
[74] 


God*s  Gentleman 


flavour  and  be  dissipated  in  a  feeble 
affability  which  is  positively  harmful. 
Some  are  so  concerned  to  keep  up  a  repu- 
tation for  unrufifled  good  humour  that  they 
would  pat  on  the  back  a  clever  thief  who 
had  escaped  the  law,  and  maintain  the 
fiction  of  friendship  with  mean  and  sordid 
persons  whom  in  their  heart  they  despised. 
Until  one  learns  to  discriminate  between 
half-hysterical  sentimentalism  and  the 
genuine  compassion  that  can  afford  to  be 
angry  at  the  right  time,  he  has  not  yet 
caught  the  spirit  of  the  ideal  gentleman, 
but  is  simply,  as  Carlyle  puts  it,  "the 
meagre  Pattern  Figure  that,  in  these  days, 
meets  you  in  all  thoroughfares."  It  is  a 
curious  circumstance  that,  while  there  is 
often  no  encouragement  for  those  who, 
against  heavy  odds,  it  may  be,  are  trudg- 
ing along  the  road  of  duty,  the  picturesque 
transgressor  excites  in  some  quarters  a 
morbid  interest  that  is  fertile  in  apologies, 
and  perhaps  loads  him  with  hideous 
[75] 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


favours.      One  might  be  led  to  suppose 
that  crime  is  admirable  when  done  in  an 
artistic  way,  and  that  an  impatient  toler- 
ance is  the  most  that  could  be  looked  for 
by  the  unenterprising  people  who  keep 
out  of  it.     But   bad   deeds  are  only  in- 
creased by  illustrative  advertisement ;  and 
restless  natures  that  live  to  be  talked  about 
at  any  cost  are  glad  enough  to  find  even 
this  way  open,  though  all  others  may  be 
closed,  for  gratifying  their  love  of  notoriety. 
The  disease  of  egotism  is  apt  to  be  at- 
tended  with  dangerous  after-effects   that 
require  the  unpalatable  medicine  of  public 
reprobation.      The  gentleman   cannot  be 
expected  to  have  an  indiscriminate  taste 
for  everything.     It  is  true  that  he  does  not 
share  the  disdain  of  the  dainty  exquisite 
in  presence  of  the  scenes  of  common  life. 
He  is  a  sworn  foe  to  that  false  exclusive- 
ness   whose    interests,    instead    of    being 
broadly  human,  are  shut  up  within  certain 
sets  and  coteries.     Yet.  at  the  same  time, 
[76] 


God^s   Gentlem    n 


he  has  pronounced  likes  and  dislikes,  and 
dreads  most  of  all  that  vulgarity  of  soul 
which  degrades  the  manners  because  it 
first  degrades  the  man. 

When  one  is  spoken  of  as  "  a  Christian 
and  a  gentleman,"  if  language  means  any- 
thing, it  ought  to  be  viewed  as  a  compli- 
ment But  why  use  the  two  words? 
Christianity  has  failed  to  perfect  its  mission 
until  it  drives  all  the  boorishness  out  of 
us.  Prof.  T.  H.  Green  in  one  of  his  lec- 
tures said,  "As  it  was  the  aspiration  of 
Moses  that  all  the  Lord's  people  should 
be  prophets,  so  with  all  seriousness  and 
reverence  we  may  hope  and  pray  for  a 
condition  of  English  society  in  which  all 
honest  citizens  will  recognize  themselves 
a:^d  be  recognized  by  each  other  as  gentle- 
men." The  social  mistake  of  being  con- 
tent with  a  thin  veneer  of  refinement  is 
akin  to  the  ecclesiastical  mistake  of  relying 
on  doctrine  and  ritual,  and  laying  little  or 
no  stress  upon  character.  The  gentleman 
[77] 


-.A 


MM 


ssaHmH 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 

must  be  clean  and  sweet  within.  Whether 
rich  or  poor,  learned  or  illiterate,  bom  in 
the  purple  or  among  the  artisans,  he  has  a 
patent  of  nobility  in  his  sincere  spirit,  his 
pure  ambitions,  and  the  wealth  of  his  serv- 
ice to  others.  For  serviceableness  is  the 
distinguishing  feature  of  the  true  gentle- 
man. His  delight  is  in  ministration,  and 
he  has  so  disciplined  his  own  nature,  and 
studied  other  natures  with  such  sympa- 
thetic insight  that  he  knows  how  to 
minister  in  the  most  effective  way.  He 
adopts  the  princely  motto,  Ich  Dien,  and 
lives  up  to  it. 

Most  unfortunately  the  title  of  "  servant " 
has  come  to  be  regarded  in  certain  quarters 
almost  as  an  affront,  and  eager  search  is 
made  for  supposed  euphemisms  to  substi- 
tute for  it.  This  is  one  of  the  signs  of 
"  independence  "  run  mad.  If  we  are  not 
servants  of  some  kind,  we  owe  the  world 
an  apology  for  continuing  to  live  in  it.  No 
defense  can  be  offered  for  idlers  whether 
[78] 


God''s  Gentleman 


they  go  about  in  fustian  or  broadcloth,  the 
scum  of  "the  submerged  tenth,"  or  the 
foolish  moths  that  singe  their  wings  in  the 
candle  of  "  society."    It  would  be  grotesque 
for  any  one  to  base  his  claim  to  be  written 
gentleman  upon    the   fact  that    he    had 
nothing  particular  to  do.     The  working- 
classes  are  the  only  ones  it  is  safe  to  har- 
bour amongst  us,  for  they  alone  have  that 
fine  training  which  rounds  out  manhood, 
and  brings  its  full  force  to  bear  upon  the 
multitudinous  needs  of  the  human  race. 
The  quality  of  work,  no  matter  how  hum- 
ble, and  the  spirit  in  which  it  is  under- 
taken, count  for  far  more  than  the  money 
or  ease  or  fame  or  any  wage  of  this  sort  it 
may  chance  to  bring.     It  is  the  vocation 
of  the  gentleman,  in  every  sphere  of  life, 
to  make  this  evident,  so  that  deliverance 
may  be  found  from  foolish  envy  and  vul- 
gar avarice.     Then,  in  spite  of  wide  differ- 
ences between  various  kinds  of  work  and 
the  gifts  they  necessitate,  a  free-masonry 
[79] 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


will  exist  among  all  the  craft,  each  appre- 
ciating and  helping  the  others.  And  this 
new  form  of  Trades'  Union  will  do  much 
to  connect  the  material  with  the  spiritual 
side  of  things,  and  to  solve  many  of  those 
problems  of  political  economy  which  now 
vex  and  sometimes  alTright  us. 

And  though  this  is  a  democratic  age, 
the  real  aristocrats  can  never  be  superflu- 
ous. Marked  out  from  coarser  natures  by 
their  patience  and  courage  and  self-sacri- 
fice, they  are  destined  to  prove  a  mighty 
force  in  illustrating  the  Divine  idea  of  life, 
and  making  others  so  to  feel  its  majesty 
and  beauty  that  this  unfinished  world  is 
brought  all  the  time  a  litde  nearer  to  com- 
pletion.    For  they  are 

"  Not  like  the  men  of  the  crowd 
Who  all  around  me  to-day 
Bluster  or  cringe,  and  make  life 
Hideous  and  arid  and  vile ; 
But  souls  tempered  with  fire, 
Fervent,  heroic,  and  good. 
Helpers  and  friends  of  mankind." 
[80] 


T/ie  Human  Touch 


-  We  bring  no  ghastljr  holocaust, 
Wt  pile  no  graven  »Uwi« ; 
He  serves  Thee  beit  who  loveth  most 
His  brothers  and  Thy  own. 

"  Thjr  litanies,  sweet  offices 
or  love  and  gratitude ; 
Ti!y  sacramental  liturgies, 
The  joy  of  doing  good." 

— Whittier  :  Our  Matttr. 

"  If  I  can  stop  one  heart  from  breaking, 
I  shall  not  live  in  vain  ; 
If  I  can  ease  one  life  the  aching. 

Or  cool  one  pain, 
Or  help  one  fainting  robin 

Unto  his  nest  again, 
I  shall  not  live  in  vain." 

^Emily  Dickinson  :  Not  in  Vaiit, 


The  Human  Touch 


I 


s  sometimes  assumed  that,  in  order 
sympathize  with  another,  one  must 
ve  passed  through  the  same  experi- 
ence. If  this  were  so,  the  range  of  effective 
service  would  be  kept  within  very  narrow 
and  formal  limits,  and  all  who  were  unable 
to  make  a  comparison  of  notes  would  be 
shut  out.  Happily,  however,  the  law  of 
exclusion  does  not  work  in  that  way.  In 
many  cases,  adversity  develops  such 
a  morbid  self-consciousness  that  what 
seemed  an  oppressively  dark  cloud  when 
we  were  under  it,  begins  to  look  quite 
trifling  now  that  it  happens  to  be  a  little 
farther  off.  No  doubt,  when  the  heart  is 
reaUy  stirred  by  the  spectacle  of  another's 
need,  experience  will  come  to  its  aid  and 
accentuate  its  pity.  But,  should  such  an 
[83] 


ii 


^^=^ 


u^ 


Mi-' 


TAe  Coign  of  Vantage 


alternative  be  presented,  a  kindly  imagina- 
tion suffused  with  some  measure  of  true 
feeling  is  better  than  the  precise  knowl- 
edge that  scarcely  feels  at  all. 

The  essence  of  sympathy,  then,  by  no 
mexns  lies  in  sameness  of  sensations,  still 
less  in  a  duet  of  groans.  It  is  the  volun- 
tary advance  of  ono  soul  th.a  is  free  to 
overtake  another  soul  that  is  fettered,  and 
then  to  keep  pace  with  its  slow  step  down 
the  avenues  of  trial,  just  as  though  that 
were  the  only  path  available.  If  it  be  said 
that  such  a  quixotic  partnership  in  gra- 
tuitous bondage  is  absurd,  the  fact  re- 
mains that  it  has  been  deliberately  chosen 
by  the  noblest  men  and  women  all  over 
the  world. 

For  example,  though  a  teacher  may  have 
excellent  judgment  and  wide  scholarship, 
if  he  would  succeed  he  must  be  teacher 
and  pupil  as  well,  suiting  his  methods  to 
the  pupil's  inperfect  comprehension,  enter- 
ing into  all  the  difficulties  of  his  immature 
[84] 


The  Human  Touch 


% 


brain,  and  tryinjf  to  interpret  the  things 
that  most  help  or  hinder  him.     If  the  man 
were  not  really  greater  than  the  boy,  he 
could  not  do  this.     But  it  is  in  doing  this 
that  he  best  shows  his  greatness,  and  rises 
above  the  mere  pedagogue  to  become  the 
kind  of  teacher  who  inspires  youth  and 
moulds  its  character.     Arnold  of  Rugby, 
in   one  of  his  school  addresses,  said,  "I 
cannot  remain  here  if  all  is  to  be  carried 
on  by  constraint  and  force.     If  I  am  to  be 
here  as  a  jailor,  I  will  resign  my  office  at 
once  " ;  and  again,  to  one  of  his  masters, 
speaking  of  a  boy  who  had  been  detected 
in  some  fault,  '•  If  he  should  turn  out  ill,  I 
think  it  would  break  my  heart." 

Look  at  a  mother  who  tenderly  nurses 
her  sick  child.  What  a  beautiful  iUustra- 
tion  is  this  of  the  working  of  love's  perpet- 
ual miracle  i  Unquestionably  she  feels  for 
the  child.  But  a  casual  observer  might  do 
that.  She  does  far  more.  She  feels  with 
the  child,  and  even  in  the  child.  Love  so 
[85] 


i    ^'r.: 


MICtOCOfY   RBOIUTION   TSST  CHART 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


!■■ 

■  2.8 

1^ 

■  M 

m^m 

13^ 

IK 

IS 

Mim 

III  2-0 

i^ 

•LUk 

1.8 


^    APPLIED  IIVMGE    I 

^R.'        1653  East  Main  Street 
BS        (716)   288 -5989 -Fax 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


unites  the  two  that  every  pang  of  the  little 
sufferer    is    duplicated    in    the    mother's 
breast.     Earth  would  be  a  poor  dwelling- 
place  if  this  mystery  of  vicarious  sorrow 
disappeared   from  it.     The  great  leaders 
who  have  meant  most  to  mankind,  never 
lose  a  fellow-feeling  even  for  the  unpromis- 
ing ones  who  lag  in  the  rear;  and  the 
secret  of    their  power  of  guidance  and 
benediction  is  to  be  found  not  so  much  in 
their    cleverness    as    in    their  wealth   of 
sympathy.     The  best  kind  of  service  to 
others    demands  a  kaleidoscopic  nature 
which,  while  it  keeps  the  strength  of  a 
consistent    purpose,    presents    the  aspect 
that  is  most  helpful,  and  becomes  all  things 
to  all  men  if  by  all  means  it  may  save 
some. 

The  poor,  of  many  sorts,  are  always 
with  us,  the  ignorant  and  inefficient  who, 
if  no  aid  comes  to  them,  are  sure  to  be 
beaten  in  the  conflict  of  life.  Instead  of 
regarding  their  presence  as  a  providential 
[86] 


The  Human   Touch 

arrangement  with  which  it  \vould  be  al- 
most impious  to  intermeddle,  sympathy 
finds  here  an  obvious  outlet  for  its  exercise. 
No  doubt,  suffering  is  often  the  direct  re- 
sult of  imprudent  or  vicious  habits.  But 
that  fact  renders  al!  the  more  necessary 
the  cultivation  of  a  fraternal  spirit  which 
seeks  not  merely  to  investigate  the  causes 
of  discontent  and  wretchedness,  but  makes 
some  honest  effort  to  remove  them.  The 
fittest  to  survive  are  those  who  show  a  wise 
and  loving  care  for  the  unfittest.  And 
though  communistic  theories  nust  break 
down  in  their  attempt  to  equalize  human 
conditions  until  they  have  achieved  the 
impossible  task  of  equalizing  men,  yet  the 
door  of  opportunity  should  be  shut  to  no 
one  to  bring  out  the  best  that  is  in  him. 
It  is  a  hopeful  sign  that  the  social  con- 
science is  being  aroused  more  and  more  to 
discern  that  the  horrible  differences  of  for- 
tune which  obtrude  themselves  in  some  of 
our  great  cities  are  not  only  a  menace  to 
[87] 


M 


TAe  Coign  of  Vantage 


a  civilization  that  is  called  Christian,  but 
also  a  reproach  and  shame. 

And  yet  it  must  not  be  supposed  that 
sympathy  is  nothing  more  than  a  medicine 
for  the  sick  or  a  prop  for  the  feeble.     Is 
there  any  reason  why  those  who  are  ab- 
sorbed in  some  heroic  task  whose  difficul- 
ties they  meet  with  cheerful  resolution ; 
those  who  are  wresding  in  the  darkness 
with  an  angel  that  has  not  yet  blessed 
them;  those  who  throw  the  passion  of 
their  whole  nature  into  unselfish   service 
for  others  ;  those  whose  ideals  goad  them 
into  fine  eccentricities   which,   though  a 
puzzle  to  the  vulgar  gaze  are,  after  all,  the 
main  inspirations  of  human  progress— is 
there  any  reason  why  they  should  be  left 
to  stand  alone?    We  can  scarcely  help 
hearing  the  plaint  of  the  weak ;  but  shall 
we  misinterpret  the  silence  of  the  strong  ? 
Even  though  it  be  given  to  few  to  scale 
the  topmost  heights,  those  who  stand  upon 
lower  levels,  catching  somediing  of  the 
[88] 


The  Human   Touch 


enthusiasm  of  undaunted  souls,  may  at 
least  cheer  them  in  their  hard  endeavour. 
One  could  imagine  that  if  the  pale  ghosts 
of  some  of  the  great  departed  came  back 
to  earth,  they  would  feel  a  pleasant  warmth 
in  the  posthumous  praise  of  later  ages, 
and  wish  that  the  praise  had  come  when 
they  were  in  the  thick  of  their  work,  and 
had  taken  the  form  of  practical  aid. 

Very  often,  the  best  way  to  serve  the 
world's  smaller  people  is  not  to  forget  its 
bigger  ones.  It  was  a  startling  cry  that 
came  from  the  garden  of  Gethsemane, 
"  What,  could  ye  not  watch  with  Me  one 
hour  ?  "  Possibly  Nature  may  have  had 
some  soothing  influence  on  the  Master's 
grief. 

"  The  olives  they  were  not  Wind  to  Him, 
The  little  gray  leaves  were  kind  to  Him, 
The  thorn-tree  had  a  mind  to  Him 
When  into  the  woods  He  came." 

But  what  He  needed  most  just  then  was 

the  human  touch.     He  was  always  saving 

l89] 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


others ;  but  the  unfamiliar  thought  which 
comes  from  the  Garden  is  that  others  may 
assist  in  saving  Him.    Strong  men  some- 
times  give  the  impression  that  they  are  in- 
different to  sympathy  because  they  do  nc. 
parade  their  needs.     But  the  steadfast  and 
fearless  spirit  is  far  more  sensitive  to  the 
finest  inspirations  than  the  vacillating  and 
cowardly  one,  and  will  appreciate  to  the 
full  all  genuine  comradeship.    When  the 
helpers  are  helped  as  well  as  the  helpless, 
not  only  does  that  break  the  solitude  to 
which  they  are  almost  inevitably  exposed 
by  their  splendid  toil,  but—what  will  be 
even  more  welcome  to  their  hearts— it  en- 
ables others,  in  some  measure  at  least,  to 
share  the  noble  ardour  that  leads  them  on. 
There  is  no  stereotyped  method  of  being 
altruistic.     But  we  should   take  a  good 
deal  more  interest  in  our  fellows  if  we  ac- 
quired the  habit  of  looking  at  things  from 
their  standpoint  as  well  as  our  own,  and 
studying  their  nature  with  the  keen  eye  of 
[90] 


The  Human  Touch 


real  friendliness.  Each  human  soul  de- 
serves a  special  examination  -  and  sym- 
pathy is  nothing  if  not  personal.  Though 
prepared  to  break  down  artificial  barriers 
of  pride  and  prejudice  anywhere,  and  to 
sing  even  in  the  most  unlikely  places  its 
anthem  of  good-will,  yet,  instead  of  being 
satisfied  with  expansive  theories  of  "  uni- 
versal brotherhood  "  which  may  be  held  in 
a  loose  kind  of  way  without  any  sacrifice, 
it  seeks  for  concrete  illustration  on  the  first 
opportunity  that  comes  to  it. 

We  must  concentrate  if  we  wish  to  be 
useful.  It  sounds  very  well  to  talk  about 
"  evangelizing  the  masses."  But  the  pious 
phrase  has  little  practical  value  until  the 
masses  are  broken  up  into  the  single  units 
that  compose  them.  The  most  effective 
work  can  rarely  be  done  by  wholesale.  If 
msn  were  like  a  row  of  houses,  they  might 
be  dealt  with  in  a  statistical  manner,  and 
according  to  some  prescribed  formula. 
But  they  are  all  shapes  and  sizes  of  archi- 
[91] 


.  1 .1 


II 


The  Coign^  of  Vantage 

lecture  from  the  rude  loglc^^toThe 
stately  palace;  and  account  must  be  made 
of  the  idiosyncrasies  and  circumstances  of 
each  if  one  aspires  to  be  broadly  philan- 
thropic. 

When  we  learn  to  take  care  of  the  units 
the  multiples  will  not  need  to  take  care  of 
themselves.     He  who  was  the  pioneer  ex- 
plorer into  the  significance  and  worth  of 
the    individual    was    also,   for  that   very 
reason,   the  world's  greatest  and  sanest 
Socialist.     He  drew  so  near  to  each  person 
with  whom  He  was  brought  into  contact 
that  He  became,  as  it  were,  their  other  and 
nobler  self,  bearing  their  burdens  as  though 
they  were  His  own.  rebuking  the  evil  of 
their  nature,  and   bringing  to  the  light 
whatever  good  thoughts  and  desires  were 
half  concealed  within  them.     It  may  seem 
a  slow  way.  but  it  is  the  only  way.     We 
prepare  for  wider  tasks  by  throwing  into 
the  duty  just  before  us  the  fervour  of  a 
God-intoxicated    life.     That      mercantile 
[92] 


if 


The  Human  Touch 


view  of  our  fellows  which  values  them 
simply  in  proportion  as  they  can  be  made 
to  minister  to  our  own  interests,  will  never 
show  what  they  are  or  what  they  might  be. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  we  tried  to  supply 
the  needs  of  the  whole  race,  effort  would 
be  paralyzed  in  the  seemingly  hopeless 
number  of  them.  It  is  only  from  personal 
centres  and  through  the  vitalities  of  direct 
personal  influence  that  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  gradually  established  amongst 
us.  By  means  of  a  sympathetic  under- 
standing of  the  single  soul,  a  suggestive 
glimpse  is  given  into  the  Festival  of  All 
Souls,  and  the  great  secret  revealed  that 
the  human  touch  may  have  in  it  something 
that  is  Divine. 


[93] 


''  fa 


f1 


;i*» 


Concerning  Heresy 


(i    ; 


Those  who  repreitent  Christ  u  prefcnting  to  men  an  ab- 
•truie  theology  and  saying  to  them  peremptorily,  •  Believe 
or  be  dammed,'  have  the  coaritest  conception  of  the  Saviour 
of  the  v.orld."_J.  R.  SitttY :  Etct  Homo, 

"  All  silencing  of  disrusiion  is  an  assumption  of  infallibil- 
ity."—John  Stuart  Mill  :  LU>my. 

"Unless  a  universal  divine  spirit  be  recognued  as  living 
in  man.  there  will  be  no  chance  of  recognizing  any  as  living 
above  man;  no  revelation  would  be  credible  from  a  divine 
king  that  did  not  reveal  also  the  longbrooding  thoughu  of 
•  divine  humanity." 

— R.  H.  HuTTON:  TktoUgital  Eut^t. 


II  i 


Concerning  Heresy 


r   I  ^HOUGH  Hudibras  had  such  an- 
alytical skill  that 


1 


"  He  could  distinguish  and  divide 
A  hair  'twixt  south  and  southwest  side/' 

it  is  doubtful  whether  he  could  have  settled 
the  question,  "  What  is  a  heretic  ?  "  in  such 
a  way  as  to  satisfy  every  one.  If  we  fall 
back  upon  the  aid  of  etymology,  it  seems 
clear  that  all  who  indulge  in  thinking  are 
obliged,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  to  be 
heretics ;  for  heresy  means  a  "  tp.king  "  or 
•'  choosing,"  the  selection  of  a  part  out  of 
the  whole.  Where  that  which  is  presented 
before  the  mind  is  of  such  circumscribed 
proportions  that  it  is  readily  comprehen- 
sible, men  may  be  broadly  ranged  under 
the  two  classes  of  believers  or  unbelievers. 
[97] 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 

But  when,  as  in  the  case  of  Divine  revela- 
tion, for  instance,  vistas  of  truth  are  opened 
up  through  which  the  light  is  yet  dim,  the 
only  way  in  which  it  seems  possible  to 
avoid  a  measure  of  unconscious  heresy  is 
to  stop  thinking  altogether. 

The  heretic,  therefore,  however  offen- 
sive he  may  be  to  some  people,  has  his 
Apologia.  That  easy-going  indolence 
which  hands  over  the  solution  of  diffi- 
culties to  otheis  is  a  virtual  denial  of  the 
significance  of  individuality.  Like  a  ves- 
sel that  keeps  her  sails  furled  in  the  har- 
bour, and  refuses  the  challenge  of  the  tide, 
it  avoids,  no  doubt,  the  risk  of  tempest  on 
the  high  seas,  but  it  will  bring  no  treasure 
to  those  who  wait  upon  the  farther  shore. 
In  matters  of  wide-reaching  import,  the 
wise  man,  instead  of  idling  till  every  par- 
ticle of  proof  is  beyond  debate,  will  use  the 
degree  of  knowledge  he  has  already,  and 
strive  to  confirm  belief  by  putting  it  to  the 
test  of  experience. 

[98] 


P 

■fsr 


Concerning  Heresy 

It  might  be  interesting,  and  sometimes 
painful,  to  inquire  how  many  think  more 
of  the  modes  of  expressing  their  opinions 
about  truth  than  they  do  of  the  truth  itself. 
A  good  deal  of  so-called  religious  doubt  is 
simply  the  refusal  to  accept  certain  forms 
of  statement  which  do  not  command  the 
assent  of  the  intelligence ;  and  the  nervous 
fear  excited  among  some  because  of  this 
hostility  loses  sight  of  the  fact  that  it  is  one 
thing  to  be  opposed  to  truth,  and  quite  an- 
other thing  to  dissent  from  some  one  else's 
"doxy"  concerning  it.  Of  course,  even 
though  the  dissenter  is  sincere,  he  may  still 
be  in  error.  His  metaphysical  powers  may 
be  immature,  and  his  judgment  defective. 
Or,  since  creed  and  conduct  interact  upon 
each  other,  evil  habits  may  distort  the 
vision,  and  incline  him  to  the  denial  of 
what  runs  counter  to  the  trend  of  his  life. 
But  it  would  be  most  unfair  to  begin  by 
assuming  that  he  is  either  stupid  or  bad. 
That  is  a  matter  for  separate  investigation. 

[99] 


m 


ff 


N  I 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


For  no  one,  surely,  will  suppose  that  the 
earnest  thought  which  constructs  a  creed 
is  of  God,  and  the  equally  earnest  thought 
which  criticises  it  is  necessarily  of  the 
devil.  Over  and  over  again  the  heretics 
have  saved  the  Church  from  ruin. 

We  cannot  be  rid  of  the  obligation  to 
look    into    things  for  ourselves.     Strong 
natures    rather    incline    towards  noncon- 
formity.   The  interrogative   mood,  when 
put   to  the  best  uses,   becomes  a  man. 
TertuUian  asked,  "  What  has  Athens  to  do 
with   Jerusalem,   the  Academy  with  the 
Church  ?"    And  the  answer  is,  "  Much  in 
many   ways."     Every  great   problem  of 
life  claims  the  right  of  personal  study,  and 
cannot  without  hazard  be  denied  it.    To 
say  that  faith  transcends  knowledge  is  not 
to    say  that    it    contradicts   or  outrages 
knowledge.     Though  all  kinds  of  thinkers 
have  felt  the  necessity  for  some  court  of 
appeal,  and  have  thus  acknowledged  that 
truth  is  not  spun  from  the  entrails  of  our  own 
[loo] 


it  f 


Concerning  Heresy 


i 


consciousness,  yet  revelation  of  any  sort  is 
possible  only  to  those  who  are  competent, 
to  some  extent  at  least,  to  apprehend  it. 
Truth  becomes  ours  when  we  begin  to 
perceive  with  growing  clearness  its  majes- 
tic proportions;  and  this  insight  consti- 
tutes the  real  measure  of  what  we  are  ac- 
customed to  call  originality.  In  this  sub- 
jective sense,  religion  is  as  progressive  as 
the  most  aspiring  science  could  desire,  and 
in  precisely  the  same  way,  except  that  its 
truths  are  not  the  ally  of  the  intellect  alone, 
but  the  transforming  power  of  our  whole 
being.  As  we  try  to  live  them,  we  come 
more  and  more  to  know  them.  "  Chris- 
tian faith,"  says  Hawthorne  in  his  "  Marble 
Faun,"  "  is  a  grand  cathedral  with  divinely- 
painted  windows.  Standing  without,  you 
see  no  glory,  nor  can  you  imagine  any ; 
standing  within,  every  ray  of  light  reveals 
a  harmony  of  unspeakable  splendours." 

In  some   quarters  nowadays,  it  is  not 
fashionable  to  come  to  definite  conclusions 

[lOl] 


,1  (; 

m 


& 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


about  anything.  The  modern  church- 
goer would  scarcely  appreciate  the  kind  of 
sermon  that  so  delighted  the  Scotsman 
returning  from  abroad : — 

"  O  what  a  gale  was  on  my  speerit 
To  hear  the  p'ints  o'  doctrine  cleerit, 
And  a'  the  horrors  o'  damnation 
Set  furth  wi'  faithfu'  ministration  ! 
Nae  shauchlin'  testimony  here  — 
We  were  a*  damned,  and  that  was  clear. 
I  owned  wi'  gratitude  an'  wonder, 
He  was  a  pleisure  to  sit  under." 

Even  when  dogmatism  is  not  deemed  an 
offense  elsewhere,  there  is  a  wide-spread 
idea  that  it  should  never  be  heard  in  re- 
gard to  the  most  stupendous  subjects  that 
can  possibly  engage  human  attention. 
What  Matthew  Arnold  calls  Aberglaube 
has  ceased  to  invade  and  reinvade,  and  in 
its  place  the  outlook  is  obscured  by  ugly 
interrogation  marks  that  bristle  with  de- 
fiance. Ihis  attitude  of  mind  is  in  part, 
at  least,  a  protest  not  against  the  existence 
[102] 


'oncerning  Heresy 


of  dogma  but  against  its  abuse,  and  is  so 
far  a  good  sign.  We  are  coming  to  see 
that  speculative  error  is  not  in  itself  a 
crime,  and  therefore  cannot  fairly  be  visited 
with  punishment.  Even  when  erroneous 
thinking  seems  to  spring  out  of  wicked 
living,  it  is  in  the  character  rather  than  in 
the  creed  that  the  guilt  lies.  The  honest 
doubter  deserves  sympathy  instead  of 
reprobation.  Belief  comes  hard  to  some. 
Though  the  haunting  conviction  of  a  Su- 
preme Being  may  be  said  to  pursue  man- 
kind everywhere,  yet  the  God  who  alone 
is  fitted  to  command  worship  seems  at 
times  withdrawn  by  His  very  greatness 
from  earth's  affairs,  sitting  apart  in  ur 
troubled  calm.  There  are  dark  hou~ 
when  the  sensitive  spirit  cries,  like  Richter 
in  his  awful  dream,  "  O  Father  I  O  Father  I 
Where  is  Thine  infinite  bosom  that  I  might 
rest  in  it  ?  "  Agnosticism  could  never  keep 
any  hold  upon  human  thought  if  a  meas- 
ure of  truth  were  not  hidden  behind  its 
[  103  ] 


•!^!^ 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


hideous  fallacy.  For  while  the  Divine 
records  are  indeed  engraved  in  many 
scriptures,  the  words  do  not  always  seem 
easy  to  decipher.  Whatever  may  be 
learned  from  nature  or  from  the  annals 
of  the  world,  the  final  solution  of  the  the- 
istic  problem  lies  in  the  human  heart  when 
illuminated  by  the  epiphany  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

Whether  written  down  or  not,  we  can- 
not help  but  have  a  creed  of  some  kind. 
Escaping  from  the  city  of  religious  dogma, 
we  soon  discover  that  in  the  open  country 
of  "free  thought,"  the  same  shadow  still 
follows  us.     Offensive  as  know-everything- 
ism  is,  know-nothingism  is  ruinous.   Vague 
theories,  no  matter  how  beautiful  in  out- 
line, are  apt  to  trail  ofl  into  most  feeble 
practice  unless  there  is  behind  them  the 
motive    power    of    steadfast    conviction. 
Creed  is  simply  the  crystallizing  of  definite 
thought,  and  can  disappear  only  with  uni- 
versal nescience.     The  worid's  most  pro- 
[104] 


oncernt 


^i 


He 


re 


sy 


ductive  periods  have  always  been  positive 
ones;  and  though  preliminary  criticism 
may  seem  at  times  iconoclastic,  it  prepares 
the  way  for  building  up  something  better 
on  the  site  of  the  shattered  idol. 

As  long  as  men  continue  to  reflect  at  all, 
they  will  differ  to  some  extent  at  least,  in 
the  perspective  of  their  beliefs,  and  in  the 
mode  of  stating  them.  No  one  need  re- 
gret this ;  for  the  full-orbed  glory  of  truth 
is  not  made  clear  until  it  is  viewed  from 
many  points  of  observation.  Even  if  we 
feel  sure  that  a  man  is  wrong  in  his  creed, 
the  spirit  of  tolerance  teaches  us  that  his 
error  is  to  be  overcome,  not  by  a  process 
of  browbeating,  but  only  when  he  himself 
sees  that  it  is  error.  How  pitiable  to  ex- 
haust indignation  over  speculative  mis- 
takes when  it  ought  to  be  kept  for  base 
and  selfish  conduct ! 

For  the  Christian  is  not  found  out  by 
show  of  hands  on  doctrinal  matters.  The 
real  test  of  the  quality  of  manhood  is  in 
L 105] 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


the  life,  and  creed  is  of  value  only  in  so 
far  as  it  inspires  to  pure  and  serviceable 
action.  Little  Alice,  though  bewildered 
by  conflicting  evidence,  could  appreciate 
practical  results.  *•  I  know  what  you  are 
thinking  about,"  said  Tweedledum,  "  but 
it  isn't  so,  nohow."  ••  Contrariwise,"  said 
Tweedledee,  "if  it  was  so,  it  might  be; 
and  if  it  were  so,  it  would  be ;  but  if  it 
isn't,  it  ain't  That's  logic"  "I  was 
thinking,"  Alice  said  very  politely,  "  which 
is  the  best  way  out  of  this  wood :  it's 
getting  dark.  Would  you  tell  me,  please  ?  " 
The  great  purpose  of  all  our  argument 
should  be  to  lead  us  out  of  the  shadow- 
haunted  wood  into  some  clear  place  where 
we  may  see  freely  and  live  nobly  and 
courageously. 

There  is  a  growing  feeling  among 
thoughtful  minds  that,  apart  altogether 
from  the  question  whether  certain  dogmas 
are  credible  or  not,  no  mere  formularies 
of  any  kind  can  be  regarded  as  the  highest 
[io6] 


Concerning  Heresy 


i 


or  final  expression  of  Christianity.  From 
the  standpoint  of  accepted  beliefs,  the 
definition  of  the  heretic  has  shifted  con- 
stantly, and  the  ecclesiastical  outlaw  of  his 
own  day  often  reappears  as  the  adored 
hero  of  later  ages.  But  the  time  is  at 
hand  when,  if  we  still  continue  to  hunt  for 
heretics,  we  shall  come  up  with  them,  not 
among  the  men  who  are  perplexed  in  faith, 
but  impure  in  deeds.  To  each  expectant 
generation  there  must  needs  be  given 
fresh  glimpses  into  truth;  but  the  essen- 
tially Christian  temper  remains  the  same 
down  to  the  end  of  the  world,  evermore 
translating  itself  into  beneficence.  If  the 
Church  thinks  to  find  sufficient  shelter  be- 
hind the  shield  of  mere  authority,  whether 
real  or  imagined,  she  will  yet  be  cast  out 
and  trodden  under  foot  of  men.  She  must 
learn  more  and  more  to  put  the  emphasis 
where  Christ  put  it,  and  to  meet  the 
assaults  of  her  enemies,  not  by  a  bristling 
phalanx  of  propositions,  but  by  the  actual 
[  107  ] 


H* 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


service  she  renders  to  the  welfare  of  man- 
kind. 

Some  creed  there  must  be  in  order  to 
rational  conduct.     But  a  very  short  creed 
will  do  if  it  is  a  vital  one.     Love  to  God 
and  '  >ve  to  oui  brother  also  is  a  sufficient 
theology  when  it  expresses  itself  in  action. 
It  is  quite  true  that  the  points  of  diver- 
gence, even  in  an  elaborated  creed,  among 
the  sincere  followers  of  Jesus,  are  far  less 
important  than  the  points  on  which  they 
are  at  one.     But  the  great  hope  of  a  dis- 
membered  Christendom  drawing  nearer 
together  must  emerge,  not  along  the  lines 
of    intellectual    agreement,    but    on    the 
deeper  basis  of   spiritual  affinity.      The 
Church  is  -  )mething  more  than  an  institu- 
tion for  the  maintenance  and  defense  of  a 
certain  set  of  opinions.     It  is  a  brotherhood 
drawn  from  many  quarters,  enriched  by  a 
variety  of  training  and  temperament,  but 
united     in    a     common     enthusiasm     to 
strengthen  the  weak,  to  cheer  the  discon- 
[I08] 


Concerning  Heresy 


solate,  to  guide  the  erring,  to  lift  up  the 
fallen,  to  spread  the  Good  News  of  Christ 
all  over  a  sin-cursed  world.  The  bigness 
of  such  a  purpose  will  sweep  away  all 
littlenesses,  and  convince  us  that,  while  the 
door  of  entrance  into  the  Christian  foia 
cannot  be  mude  wider  than  Christ  made 
it,  it  is  high  time  to  ask  by  what  right  any 
one  dares  to  make  it  narrower. 


[109] 


The  Complex  Life 


"Social  progress  means  the  checking  of  the  cosmic  proc- 
ess at  every  step  and  the  substitution  for  it  of  another 
which  may  be  called  the  ethical  process ;  the  end  of  which 
is  not  the  survival  of  those  who  happen  to  be  the  fittest,  in 
respect  of  the  whole  of  the  conditions  which  obtain,  but  of 
those  who  are  ethically  the  best." 

— T.  H.  HuXLEV  :  Evolution  and  Ethics. 

"  The  activity  of  man,  directed  solely  to  the  attainment 
of  individual  happiness,  is  a  complete  renunciation  of  the 
life  of  man."— Tolstoi  :  Li/e. 

"  He  that  is  selfish  and  cuts  off  his  own  soul  from  the  uni- 
versal soul  of  all  rational  beings,  is  a  kind  of  voluntary  out- 
law."— Marcus  Aurelius  :  Meditations. 


The  Complex  Life 


IF  every  one  did  nothing  else  than  mind 
his  own  business,  there  would  soon 
be  no  business  to  mind.  We  are  so 
bound  up  with  our  fellows,  and  so  mutu- 
ally dependent  in  many  ways  that  human 
affairs  cannot  be  viewed  from  the  personal 
standpoint  alone.  And  apart  from  the 
compulsion  of  circumstances,  it  has  always 
been  felt  by  the  noblest  spirits  that  some 
regard  for  the  welfare  of  others  is  neces- 
sary to  the  wholesome  unfolding  of  one's 
self.  Writers  like  Mr.  Benjamin  Kidd  in 
his  Social  Evolution,  are  mistaken  when 
they  assume  that  an  ultra-rational  principle 
must  be  introduced  before  men  will  recog- 
nize the  validity  of  the  altruistic  idea,  much 
less  seek  its  triumph.  The  "reason" 
which  makes  selfishness  possible  makes 
[113] 


^a^ 


5  If 


.    4 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


unselfishness  possible  too  when  reason  is 
fully  awake  to  every  factor  in  the  situation. 
So  far  from  altruism  being  a  sort  of  fine 
insanity,  there  is  a  glorified  common  sense 
about  the  ethical  commandment,  "Thou 
shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself." 

The  real  problem,  then,  seems  to  be  how 
to  adjust  the  relative  claims  of  self  and 
others,  and  at  the  same  time  to  overthrow 
the  fallacy  that  an  im  concilable  conflict 
exists  between  them.  Dante's  keen  in- 
sight peopled  one  of  the  most  gloomy  re- 
gions of  the  "  Inferno  "  with 

"  The  wretched  souls  of  those  who  lived 
Without  or  praise  or  blame,  with  that  ill  band 
Of  angels  mixed,  who  nor  rebellious  proved 
Nor  yet  were  true  to  God,  but  for  themselves 
Were  only." 

But  selfishness  is  very  different  from  that 
type  of  self-love  which  aims  to  fulfil  the 
best  in  us.  Though  the  proverb  has  been 
vulgarized  and  given  a  bad  name,  it  is 
profoundly  true  that  charity  begins  at 
[114] 


The  Complex  Life 


{ 


home.  No  one  is  to  be  blamed  for  trying 
to  make  the  most  of  his  gifts,  and  paying 
some  attention  to  his  health  and  comfort. 
Even  though  the  motive  be  bad,  the  thing 
itself  is  not  bad.  Herbert  Spencer  rightly 
says  in  his  Data  of  Ethics  that  "  the  in- 
dividual who  is  inadequately  egotistic  loses 
more  or  less  of  his  ability  to  be  altruistic ; " 
and  egoism  is  inadequate  when  it  fails  to 
acknowledge  th*='  obligation  which  moral 
endowments  impose  upon  us.  Until  we 
thin  inough  of  ourselves  to  shun  what  is 
mean  and  vile,  the  stream  of  sympathetic 
feeling  will  be  shallow,  whatever  direction 
it  takes.  So  far  from  interfering  with 
service  to  others,  a  proper  esteem  for  our 
own  worth  is  required  to  raise  that  service 
to  its  highest  possibility.  The  field  of  in- 
dividual life  must  be  cleared  of  noxious 
growths,  or  else  the  seeds  of  some  of  them 
are  sure  to  blow  over  into  the  estates  adjoin- 
ing it.  Self-sacrifice  is  not  a  euphemism 
for  annihilation.  It  involves  the  throwing 
[115] 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


away  of  the  false  self,  but  equally  the 
keeping  of  the  true  self  in  its  full  vitality, 
so  that  we  seek  for  another  the  same  ob- 
jects as  our  own  illuminated  soul  has 
learned  to  covet  most. 

Life  cannot  be  divided  into  two  distinct 
hemispheres.  Personal  culture  and  care 
for  others  run  in  parallel  lines  to  secure  its 
harmonious  development.  An  apostle 
describes  Jesus  as  one  "  who  went  about 
doing  good."  A  simple  statement  indeed, 
but  like  white  light,  there  is  a  blending  of 
many  colours  in  the  picture  prr  ,ated  be- 
fore us.  If  an  itinerancy  Cx  tnis  kind  is  to 
mean  much,  it  demands  a  rare  combina- 
tion of  qualities :  breadth  of  intelligence, 
clearness  of  judgment,  a  tactful  hand,  a 
warm  but  also  a  well-educated  heart.  Not 
the  deed  alone,  but  the  man  behind  the 
deed  counts.  The  amelioration  of  the 
world  is  delayed,  not  so  much  because 
there  are  hard  natures  in  it,  as  because 
some,  disposed  to  do  what  they  can,  have 
[ii6] 


The  Complex  Life 


■1 

it 


not  yet  grown  strong  enough  to  make 
their  cordial  frame  of  mind  tell  with  any 
great  effectiveness.  In  the  long  run,  char- 
acter and  nothing  else  determines  the 
range  and  duration  of  influence.  The 
most  attractive  personality  after  awhile 
loses  its  hold  on  others  unless  it  has  a 
store  of  productive  force  lodged  in  the 
dynamo  of  the  soul.  We  may  give  more 
than  we  have,  but  we  can  never  give  more 
than  we  are. 

*.Ience  the  added  responsibility  which 
the  gregarious  instinct  carries  with  it.  If 
one  proposes  to  mingle  with  his  kind  and 
to  be  of  any  help  to  them,  there  must  be 
something  good  in  him,  and  that  some- 
thing must  be  brought  out  in  an  earnest, 
straightforward  and  loving  way.  At  times, 
of  course,  self-revelation  does  not  seem 
quite  appropriate.  In  the  haze  of  certain 
atmospheres  only  a  fragment  of  the  man  is 
visible.  When  a  number  of  persons  come 
together  without  regard  to  communion  of 
[117] 


i^m^a. 


% 


It 


I 

if 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


tastes  or  ideas,  it  is  difficult  to  avoid  some 
measure  of  concealment.  But  why  need 
social  life  ever  degenerate  into  a  studied 
subterfuge  ?  Why  may  not  honest  speech 
mate  with  honest  silence  ?  Nature  always 
puts  a  premium  on  reality,  and  is  impatient 
of  the  artected  tone  and  the  ghastly  smile 
that  mean  nothing.  We  have  fallen  into 
an  inconsiderate  use  of  the  word  "  eccen- 
tric "  ;  for  those  v»  .10  do  things  just  be- 
cause others  do  them  are  surely  more  out 
of  the  centre  of  existence,  more  "eccen- 
tric "  in  short,  than  the  one  who  has  the 
courage  to  be  himself.  No  doubt,  unless 
the  world  is  mad,  custom  has  something 
to  urge  in  its  defense,  and  whether  or  not 
there  is  any  merit  in  outraging  it  depends 
on  circumstances.  But,  at  least,  the  right 
should  be  freely  conceded  to  estimate  the 
general  vogue  for  what  it  is  worth,  and  to 
be  a  dissenter  if  conscience  or  self-respect 
bids  us.  There  is  no  surer  sign  of  provin- 
cialism than  to  want  to  force  every  one 
[n8] 


.  ifc-,*6  -  ,-j— 


The  Complex  Life 


into  the  same  precise  grooves  of  thought 
and  deed,  or  to  look  with  half-pitiful  dis- 
dain upon  those  who  venture  to  challenge 
the  omnipotence  of  conventionality.  In 
order  to  maintain  the  cosmos,  each  part 
must  first  be  true  to  its  own  orbit ;  and  the 
orbits  are  different,  though  it  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  at  many  points  they  impinge 
on  one  another. 

Something  is  wrong  with  human  inter- 
course when  it  tends  to  fetter  individuality 
and  reduce  to  much  the  same  level  the  wise 
man  and  the  fool.  It  is  true  indeed  that 
occasions  vary  for  showing  the  wide  differ- 
ence between  them.  One  would  not  care 
to  make  a  final  estimate  of  personal  values 
amid  the  confused  Babel  of  tongues  in  a 
crowded  drawing-room.  Perhaps  a  genial 
disposition,  helped  by  a  strong  sense  of 
humour,  may  tolerate  simpering  puerilities 
for  a  little  while,  and  even  find  amusement 
in  them.  We  must  not  always  take  either 
ourselves  or  others  too  seriously.  But  if 
["9] 


fiiiilMl. 


M 


m 


T^e  Coign  of  Vantage 


there  seems  no  place  for  sincere  thoujjSt 
and  lofty  purpose  in  what  is  called 
"  society,"  some,  at  least,  will  feel  obliged, 
because  they  possess  genuinely  social  en- 
thusiasms, to  keep  them  fresh  elsewhere, 
in  contact  with  Nature,  with  books,  with 
kindred  spirits,  and  most  of  all,  with  the 
many-headed  throng,  unversed  in  rules  of 
etiquette,  but  full  of  joys  and  sorrows, 
hopes  and  fears  that  stir  the  depths  of  every 
generous  heart. 

Women  are  most  exposed  to  the  bond- 
age of  fashion ;  and  however  strong  their 
desire  to  work  out  life's  problems  in  a  sen- 
sible way,  it  often  seems  as  though  there 
was  a  conspiracy  to  prevent  them.  Per- 
haps it  is  reserved  for  some  modern  Theseus 
to  deliver  the  modern  Ariadne  from  the 
social  Minotaur ;  but  even  if  such  a  cham- 
pion fail  to  appear,  signs  are  not  wanting 
that  Ariadne  will  struggle  hard  to  free  her- 
self. It  must  not  be  hastily  inferred  that 
even  those  who  look  most  frivolous  have 

[I20] 


.•    Hi. 


The  Complex  Life 


no  deeper  side  to  their  nature.  Many 
bright  young  girls  enter  a  timid  protest 
against  the  policy  of  aimless  drifting,  and 
a  new  joy  comes  to  them,  though  their 
first  •'  mission  "  lies  only  among  the  com- 
mon duties  of  the  common  day.  Many 
matrons  who,  if  they  wished,  might  take  a 
prominent  place  in  the  rivalries  of  ostenta- 
tion, decline  to  engage  in  the  contest  be- 
cause they  have  something  better  to  do. 
As  the  world's  wealth  grows,  we  shall  be 
compelled  to  settle  aright  the  question  of 
relative  values,  to  make  a  cleavage  be- 
tween the  barbarisms  of  mere  material 
parade  and  the  refinements  of  the  cul- 
tured soul,  or  else  give  up  our  hope  of 
progress ;  and  any  reform  in  social  habits 
that  encourages  us  to  be  more  real,  more 
earnest,  more  useful,  will  be  welcomed  by 
every  one  who  has  not  wholly  lost  the 
vision  of  the  magnificent  tasks  earth  sets 
before  us. 
When  one  considers  the  possible  bigness 

[121] 


II' 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 

of  life,  it  seems  pathetic  that  so  little  should 
often  be  made  of  it.  Think  of  this  many- 
citied  globe,  this  busy  hive  of  varied  indus- 
try, where  the  hand  grows  hard  with  la- 
bour, and  the  brain  aches  over  its  perplex- 
ing problems;  this  world  so  full  of  un- 
numbered wcnts  and  splendid  opportuni- 
ties, where  Science  comes  with  its  sug- 
gestive lesson,  where  Art  erects  its  monu- 
ments of  imperishable  beauty,  where 
Music  interprets  the  soul's  unspoken 
passion,  where  not  a  few  are  crying 
for  release  from  the  blindness  of  igno- 
rance, the  burden  of  sorrow,  the  tyranny 
of  sin.  A  world  like  this  summons  us 
to  be  up  and  doing  with  all  our  might, 
pnd  the  selfish  spirit  is  clearly  out  of  place 
in  it. 

Perhaps  there  is  room  for  some  one  to 
write  an  essay  on  the  disadvantages  of 
civilization.  But  we  shall  not  mend  mat- 
ters by  the  vain  attempt  which  Rousseau 
advocated  to  return  to  a  more  primitive 
[  122] 


\»L.      i*  ■  'i-... .--.-  .  --  v^^ 


;--  iiJi^ 


The  Complex  Life 

state.  Our  task  is  rather  to  illustrate  the 
true  meaning  of  simplicity  amid  the  com- 
plex life  which,  whether  we  welcome  it  or 
not,  is  forced  upon  us,  and  is  by  no  means 
incompatible  with  happiness  if  we  have 
learned  in  what  the  idea  of  happiness  should 
consist.  Plato  said  that  the  right  educa- 
tion is  intended  to  teach  us  to  rejoice  and 
grieve  over  such  things  as  are  the  proper 
objects  of  these  emotions.  Activity  for  self 
alone,  instead  of  producing  the  sense  of 
rich,  full  life,  withers  vital  powers  in  a 
dreadful  loneliness,  and  at  the  same  time 
creates  a  thirst  like  that  of  Tantalus  which 
is  never  satisfied.  The  best  way  to  take 
care  of  "  I "  and  to  feel  its  true  opulence  is 
to  embark  it  fearlessly  on  tiie  world-cur- 
rent. When,  caught  up  into  the  swirl  of 
Nature's  giant  elemental  forces,  we  become 
a  tiny  atom  at  the  heart  of  the  storm, 
though  self  is  lost,  the  highest  and  most 
intense  individuality  is  found.  Poor  Cup- 
pies  in  Alec  Forbes  thus  sings  his  prayer 
[123] 


iM* 


The  Coil':  of  Vantage 


for  a  release  from  the  torture  of  a  narrow 
self-consciousness : — 

"  O  lasiiie,  ayont  the  hill  I 

Come  owcr  the  tap  o*  the  hill 
Or  roun'  the  neuk  o*  the  hill, 

For  I  want  ye  sair  the  night. 

I'm  needing  ye  sair  the  night, 
For  I'm  tired  and  sick  o'  myBel' ; 

A  body's  sel's  the  sairest  weicht  I 
O  lassie,  come  ower  the  hill." 

Silas  Mamer's  solicitude  for  little  Effie 
makes  a  man  of  him.  This  is  always  how 
life  grows.  Going  out  of  the  petty  Ego, 
we  shall  come  back  to  find  it  dowered  widi 
a  new  strength  and  irradiated  with  a  new 
loveliness.  It  is  impossible  to  separate 
personal  interests  from  the  wider  concerns 
of  home,  friendship,  commerce,  politics, 
religion,  of  everything,  in  a  word,  that 
pertains  to  mankind.  When  introduced 
to  others  so  that  they  stir  some  true,  deep 
feeling  in  us,  we  are  really  introduced  to 
our  greater  selves ;  while  at  the  same  time, 
[124] 


i-.ttf.-ii,--aal     *.  „ 


Tht  Complex  Life 


catching  gleams  of  light  from  the  fringe  of 
the  Divine  and  Eternal,  we  begin  to  tm- 
derstand,  as  never  before,  the  myster'^us 
charm  of  that  godlike  Passion  which,  be- 
cause it  shrank  not  from  self-sacrifice  even 
unto  death,  has  won  its  immortality. 


C"5] 


-^-^ 


m 


The  Ethics  of  Work 


Ifc^!3r~T?T"' 


M 


"  For  every  piece  of  wise  work  done,  so  much  life  is 
granted ;  for  every  piece  of  foolish  work,  nothing  j  for  every 
piece  of  wicked  work,  so  much  death  is  allotted." 

— RusKiN :  Munera  Fuheris. 

"  The  great  originality  of  Christ's  teaching,  and  the  feature 
that  has  chiefly  given  it  power  in  the  world,  lay  in  the  distinct- 
ness with  which  He  conceived  a  state  of  society  from  which 
every  vestige  of  strife  and  the  modes  of  behaviour  adapted 
to  ages  of  strife,  shall  be  utterly  and  forever  swept  away." 
—John  Fiske:  TAe  Destiny  of  Man. 


The  Ethics  of  Work 


WE  shall  never  have  our  proper 
place  in  the  world  until  we  find 
out  the  utmost  that  is  in  us,  and 
earnestly  strive  to  bring  it  into  fitting  ex- 
ercise. When  it  is  said  of  some  one  that 
he  is  very  clever,  and  would  do  wonderful 
things  if  he  only  applied  himself,  does  not 
that  little  "  if "  throw  doubt  upon  the  as- 
sertion? For  the  capacity  to  apply  one- 
self is  an  integral  part  of  cleverness,  and 
the  clearest  proof  of  really  possessing  it 
In  ^sop's   fable    the    to.  beat  the 

hare ;  but  it  is  not  to  be  ini>  _  from  this 
that  plodding  belongs  to  dull  and  stupid 
people,  and  that  flashes  of  spasmodic 
energy  must  be  the  mark  of  superior 
genius.  Wide  differences  of  gifts  exist 
among  men,  but  there  are  eq'""'ly  wide 
[  129] 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


differences  in  the  use  made  of  what  they 
have.  And  while  finely  organized  na- 
tures may  be  subject  to  moods,  and  for 
long  periods  together  may  fail  to  do  their 
best  work,  no  one  ever  achieved  any 
worthy  ambition  who  did  not  learn  to 
conquer  lethargic  tendencies  and  bring 
steady  perseverance  to  bear  upon  it.  The 
noblest  powers  are  dissipated  by  lack  of 
purpose,  and  the  most  moderate  talent  can 
accomplish  something  if  it  really  tries. 
Outside  of  fairy-tales,  Aladdin-palaces  will 
not  spring  up  in  a  single  night. 

It  is  part  of  the  task  of  true  civilization 
to  remove  unnecessary  obstacles  out  of  the 
way  of  hone,  labour,  and  to  appreciate 
with  discriminating  intelligence  the  value 
of  its  various  forms  of  productiveness. 
But  economic  laws,  however  just  and 
good,  do  not  compass  the  whole  matter. 
Work  is  to  be  conceived  of  as  the  Di- 
vinely-appointed means  of  human  devel- 
opment, possessing  its  own  stupendous 
r  i^ol 


The  Ethics  of  Work 


significance  apart  from  anything  that 
comes  out  of  it  in  the  way  of  wages 
If  God  sat  at  a  distance  from  the  world, 
bathed  in  the  careless  ease  of  the  Lucretian 
deities  ;  or  if  His  footsteps  could  be  traced 
only  in  some  quiet  haven  removed  irom 
the  clamour  of  the  street,  then  it  might 
seem  that  work  was  justified  by  nothing 
else  than  practical  exigency.  But  when 
He  comes  to  be  known  as  the  chief  Actor 
in  human  affairs,  not  destroying  our  free- 
dom, but  making  possible  the  movement 
of  His  own  energy  through  it,  flooding  all 
things  with  His  presence,  and  still  writing 
His  Scriptures  every  day  for  those  who 
have  eyes  to  read  them,  a  new  meaning  is 
given  to  the  earth-drama,  and  in  the  reve- 
lation of  the  sacredness  of  work,  abundant 
reason  found  for  doing  it  with  our  might. 
Noble  service  thus  becomes  a  kind  of 
prayer,  glad  obedience  to  duty  an  un- 
conscious voice  of  thanksgiving,  and 
the  humblest  kind  of  toil  an  educating 
[131] 


T^he  Coign  of  Vantage 


torce  that  broadens  the  whole  horizon  of 
life. 

Even  though  it  were  possible  for  a  little 
while  by  artificial  means  to  bring  the  cir- 
cumstances of  all  men  to  a  common  level, 
the  disparity  between  men  themselves 
would  soon  disturb  the  arrangement.  To 
say  this,  however,  does  not  imply  that 
industrial  conditions  stand  in  no  need  of 
being  improved  It  is  not  the  task  of 
Christian  ethics  to  usher  in  a  machine-like 
Paradise  where  people  do  right  because 
they  can  scarcely  do  otherwise ;  but  rather, 
in  the  midst  of  more  sordid  alternatives,  to 
diffuse  a  spirit  of  truth  and  justice  every- 
where by  first  implanting  the  love  of  them 
in  human  hearts.  No  scheme  of  reform 
can  be  called  scientific  which  deals  only 
with  effects  and  ignores  causes.  The  rais- 
ing of  the  moral  tone  will  inevitably  lead 
to  better  regulations ;  but  if  the  chief  em- 
phasis is  placed  on  externals,  and  little  or 
no  attention  paid  to  the  incalculable  in- 
[  132  ] 


..„-^ 


The  Ethics  of  Work 


flnence  of  character,  the  golden  age  will 
always  remain  a  mocking  dream.  In 
order  that  Socialism  may  justify  its  name, 
and  put  an  end  to  the  unsocialism  against 
which  it  is  a  reaction,  it  must  accept  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  grasp  His 
idea  of  life.  There  is  no  fundamental  un- 
fairness involved  in  the  fact  that  one  man 
has  more  brains  or  gold  or  practical  apti- 
tude than  mother;  but  what  we  ought  to 
wish  to  secure  is  that  the  reciprocal  duties 
of  each  shall  be  well  understood  and 
executed  in  a  spirit  of  brotherly  love. 

It  is  unfortunate,  perhaps,  that  the  cur- 
rent phraseology  is  so  impersonal.  Behind 
Capital  is  the  capitalist,  and  behind  Labour 
is  the  labourer.  In  short,  we  have  first  to 
deal  with  human  beings,  not  with  material 
conditions,  and  the  root  of  the  whole 
trouble  lies  in  breaking  loose  from  these 
vital  relationships.  So  far  from  Capital 
and  Labour  being  naturally  at  daggers 
drawn,  they  are  partners  in  an  enterprise 
[  133  ] 


^^L 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 

that  necessitates  the  hearty  cooperation  of 
both ;  and  any  strife  between  them  is  an 
economic  blunder  not  less  than  a  moral 
fault.  If  men  were  mere  money-making 
contrivances,  it  might  do  to  regard  labour 
in  the  light  of  merchandise  to  be  purchased 
as  cheaply  as  possible.  But  because  they 
are  so  much  more  than  this,  unless  mutual 
good-will  exists  between  employers  and 
employed,  not  only  is  the  highest  measure 
of  productivity  out  of  the  question,  but  a 
door  is  opened  to  inrushing  evils  which,  if 
once  allowed  to  have  full  play,  would  soon 
reduce  the  social  fabric  to  a  heap  of  ruin. 
Combinations  of  various  sorts  are  char- 
acteristic of  our  time ;  and  whether  they 
will  produce  mischief  or  not  depends  on 
the  motives  that  inspire  them.  The  mass- 
ing of  capital  in  honest  and  capable  hands 
ought  to  be  of  general  advantage.  It  tends 
to  lessen  the  cost  of  production,  and  there- 
fore justifies  sale  at  lower  prices  than  when 
an  indefinite  number  of  small  concerns  is 
[134] 


\ii 


The  Ethics  of  It^ork 


each  maintaining  a  separate  equipment. 
Because  it  does  not  always  work  that  way, 
"  monopolies  "  have  incurred  a  good  deal 
of  Will-deserved  hatred.  But,  in  such 
cases,  the  fact  of  combination  is  not  the 
criminal  thing;  the  real  guilt  lies  in  the 
tyrannous  greed  behind  it. 

And  if  Capital  combines,  Labour  may 
be  expected  to  combine  also.  A  single 
workman  finds  it  difficult  to  obtain  a  hear- 
ing, especially  if  the  supply  of  labour  is 
fully  up  to  the  demand ;  but  when  a  large 
body  of  workmen  come  together  in  sup- 
port of  a  common  cause,  their  suit  almost 
compels  some  measure  of  serious  rttention. 
Here,  again,  the  fault  is  not  in  combining, 
but  in  the  unreasonable  demands  occasion- 
ally made,  in  the  failure  to  take  proper 
account  of  the  vast  difference  between  the 
wage-earning  rights  of  go  1  and  bad 
workmen,  and,  in  certain  instances,  in  an 
attitude  of  bitter  hostility  towards  those 
who  do  not  see  fit  to  join  the  union. 
[  135  ] 


1^ 


rilBMH 


^ 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


Nor  should  it  ever  be  assumed  that  the 
concerted  action  of  Capital  is  necessarily 
antagonistic  to  that  of  Labour,  or  vice 
versd.  When  this  seems  to  be  so,  some- 
thing is  wrong  on  one  side,  perhaps  on 
both.  Of  course,  if  each  is  saying,  "  How 
much  can  I  get,  and  how  little  can  I  give  ?  " 
friction  is  inevitable.  But  such  friction  is 
self-imposed,  and  does  not  belong  to  the 
nature  of  the  case.  The  legitimate  interests 
of  any  one  part  of  the  body  corporate 
must  have  many  points  of  sympathetic 
contact  with  those  of  all  other  parts. 
"  Eventually  it  will  be  seei. "  says  a 
thoughtful  v  titer,  Mr.  Stanley  Jevons, 
"that  industrial  divisions  should  be  per- 
pendicular, not  horizontal.  The  work- 
man's interests  should  be  bound  up  with 
those  of  his  employer,  and  should  be  pitted 
in  fair  competition  against  those  of  other 
workmen  and  employers.  The  best  work- 
men should  seek  out  the  best  master,  and 
the  best  master  the  best  workmen.  Zeal 
[136] 


in 
% 


rhe  Ethics  of  Work 

to  produce  the  best  and  the  cheapest  and 
the  most  abundant  goods  will  then  take 
the  place  of  zeal  in  obstructive  organ- 
ization." 

If  those  who  desire  to  do  honest  work 
believe  that  they  are  being  vexed  with 
needless  handicaps,  they  have  an  undeni- 
able right  to  protest  against  them.  But 
when  sloth  or  incompetency  or  vicious  in- 
dulgences diminish  productive  power; 
when  work  is  regarded  as  an  irksome  per- 
formance of  which  the  sole  compensating 
incident  is  the  periodic  receipt  of  wages, 
then  there  must  be  trouble,  and  all  the 
Labour  Unions  in  the  world  will  not  pre- 
vent it.  We  have  to  listen  sometimes  to 
the  maudlin  wrath  of  inebriation,  the  in- 
cendiary soeech  of  the  professional  agita- 
tor, the  p-^.ish  wail  of  those  whose  ener- 
gies are  absorbed  in  grumbling  instead  of 
trying  to  do  some  useful  thing.  And  the 
only  attention  such  voices  deserve  is  that 
which  seeks  by  the  best  available  means  to 
[  137  ] 


i^mmL 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


silence  their  foolish  outcry;  for  though 
capitalists  were  all  suddenly  turned  into 
angels,  they  would  continue  to  be  heard  as 
long  as  the  material  was  found  for  creat- 
ing them.  It  has  been  the  law  of  the  past, 
and  amid  every  change  of  economic  rela- 
tions it  will  be  the  law  of  the  future  that, 
in  the  long  run,  manhood,  Sampson-like, 
wins  its  own  enfranchisement,  and  yet,  un- 
like Sampson,  is  not  obliged  to  gain  that 
triumph  by  an  act  of  wholesale  destruction 
which  includes  itself. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  the  employer, 
never  having  learned  the  dignity  of  serv- 
ice, does  not  know  how  to  treat  the  serv- 
ice of  others ;  if  his  interest  begins  and  ends 
with  the  recurrent  dividends ;  if  he  views 
the  workman  simply  as  a  kind  of  Mint, 
and  neither  knows  nor  cares  much  about 
his  comfort  and  happiness;  if  he  main- 
tains the  "sweat-shops"  where  women 
and  children  are  huddled  together  in  un- 
wholesome rooms  toiling  for  a  bare  sub- 
[138] 


The  Ethics  of  Work 


sistence  ;  if  he  is  bound  to  get  rich  at  all 
hazards,  no  matter  who  suffers  or  who 
goes  to  the  wall,  what  else  can  be  expected 
than  a  smouldering  hatred  against  him 
that  sometimes  bursts  into  destroying 
flame  ?  When  any  one  is  proved  incom- 
petent or  unwilling  to  conduct  his  business 
in  an  equitable  way,  and  does  not  seem 
disposed  by  ordinary  arguments  to  change 
his  methods,  the  State  may  have  to  step  in 
and  make  it  clear  not  only  that  workmen 
have  rights,  but  that  the  public  have  some 
rights  also,  and  that  the  overmastering 
greed  of  gain  cannot  be  allowed  to  menace 
the  general  welfare. 

And  though  there  are  still  wars  and 
rumours  of  wars  in  the  industrial  world, 
earnest  minds  discern  more  and  more  the 
cruel  anomaly  of  it  all,  and  strive  with  bet- 
ter hope  to  usher  in  the  dawn  of  peace. 
Utopian  as  the  laws  from  that  hillside  of 
Galilee  may  seem  at  first,  they  are  being 
proved  by  experience  the  best  for  us.  And 
[139] 


I  ll* 


* 


h<B 


?|  1 


i 


T/ie  Coign  of  Vantage 


the  reason  is  that  though  we  dwell  in  the 
midst  of  material  affairs,  and  have  a  duty 
in  developing  them  and  healthily  enjoying 
them,  we  are  capable  of  a  Divine  alliance, 
and  destined  for  an  immortal  life.  There 
is  no  .^Sschylaean  gloom,  no  shuddering 
horror,  no  remorseful  tears ;  and  on  the 
other  hand,  no  ecstatic  rapture,  no  inner 
calm,  no  glowing  aspiration  in  the  drama 
of  an  animal  existence.  It  is  the  soul  that 
tortures  or  delights  us  most ;  and  we  have 
missed  the  chief  benefit  of  work  when  it 
does  not  bring  out  the  strength  and  beauty 
of  the  spiritual,  and  bind  us  more  closely 
to  our  fellows  and  to  God.  If  it  were  im- 
possible to  attend  to  earth's  concerns  with- 
out some  measure  of  self-degfradation,  we 
might  well  wish  that  Christian  ideals  had 
been  postponed  till  we  reached  a  realm  in 
which  there  was  some  chance  to  fulfil 
them.  But  the  foundations  of  heaven  must 
be  laid  in  time,  or  the  superstructure  will 
never  be  completed  in  eternity.  We  can- 
[140] 


T^he  Ethics  of  Work 


not  have  the  muck-rake  first  and  the 
celestial  crown  afterwards  when  there  are 
no  more  straws  to  pick  up  and  gather  to- 
gether. Unless  some  truth  and  purity  and 
unselfishness  are  shown  in  our  present 
methods  of  living,  an  illimitable  future 
would  be  an  embarrassment,  if  not  a  posi- 
tive curse.  Work  should  be  love  in  exer- 
cise, and  how  much  yet  remains  for  it  to 
do! 


C141] 


fiH^ 


Ml 


l4 


A  Christmas  Dream 


M^^i^k 


mmOk 


"And  I,  John,  saw  the  holy  city,  New  Jerusalem,  com- 
ing down  from  God  out  of  \i^sm."^Revela(ion  21 :  a. 


m 


Ol 


A  Christmas  Dream 


ONE  night  I  dreamed  a  dream,  and 
in  my  dream  I  was  carried  away 
to  a  large  and  beautiful  city.    Gaz- 
ing   about  with    the    curious  eyes  of  a 
stranger,  I  noticed  thai  the  street  in  which 
I  found  myself,  as  well  as  others  leading 
off  from  it,  was  broad  and  excellently  paved, 
and  that  at  frequent  intervals  were  open 
spaces  filled  with  trees  and  flov        ^nd 
fountains  of  pure  water,  in  the  mids    c  * 
which  many  people  walked,  or  sat  down 
to  rest  and  think  awhile.     For  though  all 
seemed  to  have  something  to  do,  there 
was  not  the  noise  and  hurry  of  other  great 
centres  of  population,  nor  yet  that  care- 
worn look  on  a  single  face   which  my 
previous  travels  in  the  world  had  made 
[  145  ] 


■UHHHIifil 


mm^M 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


1% 


too  sadly  familiar.  Those  who  passed  by 
the  place  where  I  was  standing  gave  me 
such  a  kind  glance  that  I  felt  I  had  fallen 
among  friends  ;  and  at  last,  a  venerable 
man,  advanced  in  years,  but  still  alert  and 
vigorous,  came  up  and  asked  if  I  was 
seeking  any  one.  I  told  him  that  I  had 
never  been  in  the  city  before,  and  did  not 
quite  know  how  I  happened  to  be  there  at 
all,  but  that  its  appearance  interested  me 
very  much,  and  made  me  want  to  see  more 

of  it. 

"  Let  me  be  your  guide,  then,"  said  he, 
in  a  voice  of  great  sweetness.  And  forth- 
with he  led  me  out  of  the  main  thorough- 
fare until  we  stood  in  front  of  a  massive 
building  of  chaste  and  harmonious  design. 

"  What  is  this  ?  "  I  asked. 

"This,"  he  answered,  "is  called  the 
Gallery  of  Public  Instruction,  and  in  it  are 
collected  the  best  paintings  and  statues 
and  a  large  number  of  books  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  whole  community.  Our  wealth- 
[146  J 


A  Christmas  Dream 


ier  citizens,  instead  of  locking  up  their  art 
treasures  and  their  rare  folios  at  home, 
place  many  of  them  here  under  proper 
supervision,  so  that  every  one  who  has  a 
delight  in  these  things  but  lacks  the  means 
to  obtain  them,  may  have  a  chance  of 
sharing  his  neighbour's  good  fortune." 

"  Have  you,  then,  done  away  with  private 
property  ?  " 

"  Oh,  no,"  said  my  guide,  "  we  all  have 
private  property,  and  each  one  is  given 
perfect  freedom  to  consult  his  own  special 
tastes  with  regard  to  personal  surround- 
ings. But  it  would  be  considered  a  dis- 
gfrace  to  heap  up  possessions  for  mere 
selfish  uses  without  any  thought  for  the 
general  welfare." 

"  In  that  case  you  cannot  have  any  very 
rich  men  amongst  you." 

"  It  depends  what  you  mean  by  the 
word  '  rich.'  Surely  a  man's  greatest  as- 
set is  a  pure  and  loving  heart ;  and  if  that 
be  so,  we  must  call  any  one  rich,  not  be- 

C 147  ] 


^"-  - 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


cause  of  what  he  saves,  but  what  he  spends 
for  the  good  of  the  others.  There  was  a 
spot  in  the  old  cemetery  for  those  who 
never  seemed  able  to  turn  their  money  to 
right  purposes.  It  was  known  as  '  the 
pauper  millionaires'  comer,'  but  no  burial 
has  taken  place  in  it  for  many  years." 

"  But,"  said  I,  "  does  not  this  system  of 
yours  produce  much  arrogance  among  the 
working-classes  since,  without  any  effort  of 
their  own,  the  means  of  culture  are  open 
to  them  ?  " 

"  No  one  is  permitted  to  continue  in  the 
enjoyment  of  privileges  he  does  not  ap- 
preciate ;  and  as  we  are  all  workmen  of 
some  sort,  whether  with  our  hands  or  our 
brains,  there  is  no  room  for  envy  among 
the  citizens,  the  more  so  because  each  is 
concerned  with  doing  his  tasks  well  rather 
than  with  the  wage  they  bring,  and  each  has 
equal  opportunities  for  self-improvement." 
"  Money-making,  then,  is  not  with  you 
the  main  business  of  life  ?  " 

[148] 


^L^^ 


Mi 


A  Christmas  Dream 


My  guide  did  rot  answer  in  words,  but 
his  smile  was  eloquent. 

"All  this  is  passing  strange,"  I  said; 
"  but  what  do  you  do  with  criminals  and 
paupers  ?  " 

"  We  don't  have  them,"  was  the  decisive 
reply.  "Prevention  is  better  than  cure. 
Our  laws  will  not  allow  one  part  of  the 
community  to  oppress  another  part ;  and 
since  every  one  is  thus  able  to  earn  an  hon- 
est livelihood,  what  temptation  is  there  to 
earn  it  otherwise  ?  If  any  of  our  citizens 
fall  sick,  they  are  cared  for,  when  circum- 
stances demand  it,  out  of  a  common  fund 
to  which  we  think  it  a  pleasure  to  con- 
tribute without  publicity.  The  building  at 
the  end  of  the  street,"  he  continued,  "  used 
to  be  a  jail ;  but  it  is  now  in  a  dilapidated 
condition,  as  you  see,  and  is  kept  standing 
only  as  a  kind  of  object-lesson." 

"  Do  you  never  have  financial  panics  ? 
In  my  own  home  a  good  many  people 
wear  an  anxious  expression  when  stocks 
[  H9] 


HHy^HaHifeii 


ifej 


m 


The  Coign  of  Vaniage 


are  going  down  and  they  can't  find  the 
money  to  hold  them." 

"But  why  can't  they  hold  them?"  said 
he  with  a  puzzled  air.  "  If  the  stocks  are 
theirs,  how  can  any  one  else  take  them 
against  their  will  ?  " 

"  O  but  they  are  not  really  theirs,"  I  re- 
plied. "  Only  a  little  is  bought '  on  margin,' 
we  call  it,  and  the  capitalists  send  paces 
up  or  down  as  they  like,  except  now  and 
then  when  the  market  runs  away  from 
everybody." 

Something  like  disdain  appeared  on  my 
guide's  benigfnant  countenance  as  he 
answered  : 

"  Of  course,  if  that  is  how  you  do  things, 
you  must  expect  to  suffer  for  your  folly. 
But  our  Stock  Exchange,  as  the  name  im- 
plies, is  an  exchange,  not  a  gambling- 
place  ;  and  though  we  have  our  ebb  and 
flow  of  material  prosperity,  it  is  part  of  the 
order  of  nature,  like  the  tides,  and  brings 
no  trouble  with  it." 

[150] 


A  Christmas  Dream 


I  began  to  repent  of  my  burst  of  con- 
fidence, and  thinking  it  time  to  change  the 
subject,  I  asked  : 

"  What  about  your  civic  government  ?  " 
"That  is  chosen,"  he  answered,  "by 
popular  vote,  the  franchise  being  given  to 
every  adult  citizen  of  both  sexes,  except 
such  as  are  proved  incapable  of  using  it 
with  intelligence ;  and  only  those  of  un- 
questioned integrity  present  themselves 
for  public  office.  The  candidates,  there- 
fore, do  not  need  to  hunt  for  votes  nor  to 
make  any  extraordinary  preelection  prom- 
ises. It  is  assumed  that  they  have  no 
other  aim  than  the  common  good,  and 
while  election  is  deemed  a  great  honour, 
defeat  brings  no  disgrace  in  this  healthy 
rivalry  of  public-spirited  citizens." 

While  this  conversation  proceeded,  we 
had  been  walking  leisurely  through  several 
streets,  and  had  met  a  number  of  people. 
I  was  much  impressed  with  their  happy 
and  gracious  appearance.  The  joy  of  serv- 
[151] 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


ice  seemed  to  shine  forth  from  their  bright 
eyes,  and  gave  a  charm  to  their  whole 
bearing. 

"  Is  there  any  drin  -jfe  imong  your 
citizens  ? "  I  asked  a  -.  jti> 

"  Drinlcing,  of  coi.'s  ,'  hu  answered, 
"but  no  drunkenne.v.  The  popular 
voice  has  long  sincj  »!ef  ai*»d  rj-^itst 
the  manufacture  and  V  '^  '^u^  >.quors 
in  various  stages  of  ad  ilcei..ii  >..  and  the 
pure  wine  of  our  countr}'  <.ould  ha.  a»  no  one 
unless  he  were  a  most  detestable  glutton." 

My  guide  spoke  with  some  warmth,  and 
I  could  not  but  admire  him  for  it. 

"  Bur,"  said  I,  "  have  you  no  difficulty 
in  enforcing  the  law  ?  " 

"  There  is  no  need  to  enforce  what  has 
been  created  by  general  sentiment  before 
it  took  a  formal  shape.  Even  if  the  law 
were  blotted  out  of  the  statute-book,  things 
would  remain  unchanged." 

Just  then  we  were  passing  a  large  and 
attractive  shop.     I  asked  my  conductor  if 
[152] 


A  Christmas  Dream 


we  might  go  inside ;  and  for  answer  he 
pushed  open  a  door  and  we  saw  many 
persons  buying  and  selling.  Those  who 
bought  gave  without  question  the  sum  de- 
manded, and  thuse  who  sold  seemed  more 
anxious  to  furnish  what  was  wanted  than 
to  make  a  big  profit  for  themselves ;  so 
that,  on  both  sides,  there  was  an  entire  ab- 
sence of  distrust  f  r  avarice,  and  only  the 
quiet  delight  of  mutual  ministration. 

It  was  on  the  tip  of  my  tongue  to  say 
that  this  was  like  a  kind  of  universal  Civil 
Service.  But  the  scene  had  made  me  too 
thoughtful  for  joking,  and  we  passed  out 
silently  into  the  street  again.  After  awhile 
I  asked : 

"  How  do  you  avoid  bankruptcies  in 
your  city  when  merchants  are  so  careless 
of  their  own  gains,  and  so  eager  to  meet 
the  requirements  of  others  ?  " 

"  Easily  enough  ;  for  no  buyer  will  take 
anything  unless  he  is  able  to  pay  at  once 
the  proper  price  lor  it" 
[153] 


h. 


in 


T^e  Coign  of  Vantage 


«•  This  is  wonderful,"  I  exclaimed. 

"  Do  you  think  so?  "  he  answered  smil- 
ingly. "  To  us  it  would  be  wonderful  if  it 
were  otherwise." 

As  he  said  this,  we  turned  into  another 
street,  and  on  the  corner  stood  a  beauti- 
ful and  stately  building  which  I  took  to  be 

a  church. 

"  What  denomination  does  that  church 
belong  to?"  I  asked,  pointing  towards  it. 

My  companion  did  not  seem  to  hear  me ; 
and  thinking  that  age  must  have  made 
him  a  littie  deaf,  though  I  had  not  noticed 
the  infirmity  before,  I  repeated  the  ques- 
tion in  a  louder  tone. 

"  I  don't  quite  understand  you,"  he  said. 

"  Why,"  I  answered,  rather  glad  of  the 
opportunity  to  give  a  little  instruction  of  my 
own  after  receiving  so  much,  "  you  surely 
know  that  churches  are  called  by  various 
names  according  to  their  doctrine  and 
modes  of  worship  ?  I  am  a  Presbyterian 
myself,  and  in  my  own  town  they  take  the 
[154] 


A  Christmas  Dream 


lead  in  a  good  many  things.  They  have 
the  best  preachers  and  the  most  influential 
congregations,  and  from  what  I  learn  of 
the  intelligence  and  moral  worth  of  your 
citizens,  1  should  think  they  must  stand 
well  amongst  you." 

He  looked  rather  bored  at  first  by  this 
self-complacent   harangue   of  mine.     But 
gradually  an  amused  expression  overspread 
his  face,  and  it  was  with  a  kind  of  quiet 
chuckle,  as  I  fancied,  that  he  finally  said : 
"  There  are  no  Presbyterians  here." 
"  What  1 "  I  gasped,  almost  out  of  breath 
with  wrathful  surprise,  "  no  Presbyterians 
in  this  enlightened  community?" 
••  None,"  he  replied  again. 
I  could  not  leave  the  subject  in  this 
shane  ;  so  when  I  had  recovered  myself  a 
little  I  asked  : 

"What  about  the   Methodists?    They 
are  an  aggressive  people." 
"  There  are  no  Methodists." 
"Well,  then,  the  Episcopalians,   High 
[155] 


li 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


Church  and  Lx)w  Church,  how  do  they  get 
along?" 

"  There  are  no  Episcopalians." 
"  Are  you  all  Roman  Catholics?"  I  ven- 
tured to  ask  once  more,  though  with  a 
growing  sense  of  futility. 

"There  are  no  Roman  Catholics,"  was 
the  grave  reply. 

By  this  time  the  bewilderment  was  on 
my  side,  and  it  became  my  turn  to  say, 
with  some  heat : 

•'  I  don't  understand  you." 
My  guide  turned  kindly  towards  me, 
not  seeming  to  notice  much  my  ruffled 
temper,  and  said : 

"  I  am  an  old  man  now,  but  your  ques- 
tions remind  me  that  when  I  was  a  lad, 
people  used  to  talk  a  great  deal  about 
these  different  kinds  of  churches,  and  if  I 
remember  righdy  they  did  not  always  love 
one  another.  But  the  very  names  have  so 
long  since  become  obsolete  that  I  had  for- 
gotten them.  Each  church  now  has  the 
[156] 


i^ 


A  Christmas  Dream 


simple  title,  'The  Church  of  Jesus  Christ/ 
and  the  members  of  it  are  content  to  be 
called  •  Christians.' " 

••  But  do  you  mean  to  tell  me,"  I  said, 
stUl  struggling  to  get  hold  of  something 
familiar,  •'  that  every  one  worships  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  way  ?  " 

"No,"  he  answered,  "but  they  all  wor- 
ship one  common  Lord,  and  it  would  be 
thought  absurd  to  create  divisions  on  the 
mere  ground  of  some  difference  in  ritual." 
•'  But  have  you  no  creeds?" 
"  We  have  one  creed,"  he  replied  with 
solemnity,  "and  no  one  can  be  a  church- 
member  who  does  not  try  to  practise  it. 
And  the  creed  is  this:    'I  believe  in  the 
love  of  God,  and  in  its  power  to  inspire  and 
purify  human  life  ;  and  I  promise  to  love 
God  with  all  my  heart,  and  my  neighbour 

as  myself.' " 

••  It  must  be  difficult  to  maintain  your 
churches  when  you  seem  to  think  so  littie 
of  form  and  doctrine." 

[157] 


lii 


It' 
»''■ 


lill' 


If 


■W" 


T/^g  C<?/^//  <?/  Vantage 


"  On  the  contrary,  they  are  maintained 
in  a  most  efficient  way  by  the  free-will  of- 
ferings of  the  people ;  and  as  there  is  no 
motive  for  erecting  a  church  unless  it 
is  needed,  they  are  all  well  filled  with 
rich  and  poor  alike,  and  their  main 
work  is  to  teach  not  only  the  citizens, 
but  strangers  from  other  lands,  to  cul- 
tivate truth  and  love,  like  their  great 
Founder." 

"  You  have  no  trouble,  then,  I  suppose, 
in  regard  to  the  religious  training  of  your 
children?" 

"  Why  should  there  be  any  trouble  when 
we  hold  that  the  first  duty  of  our  youth  is 
to  learn  the  will  of  God  and  do  it  ?  Edu- 
cation begins  with  this  greatest  lesson,  and 
the  whole  of  life  is  ours  to  illustrate  its 
meaning." 

As  we  thus  discoursed  in  this  strange 

fashion,   my  mind   full  of  all  that  I  had 

heard,  we  began  to  approach  the  centre  of 

the  city,  where  was  a  great  open  square  in 

[158] 


4k 


m^mm 


A  Christmas  Dream 


which  many  people  were  gathering  on  all 

sides. 

"  What  means  this  concourse  ?  "  I  asked. 
"Wait,"  said  my  guide,  "and  you  shall 

see." 

Gradually  an  immense  multitude  had 
come  together,  and  as  they  stood  there 
with  expectant  faces,  of  a  sudden,  though 
from  what  quarter  I  could  not  be  sure,  there 
arose  a  great  volume  of  harmony  which 
was  caught  up  by  every  one  in  the  throng, 
till  the  air  shook  with  the  mighty  anthem, 
"  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on  earth 
peace,  good-will  towards  men."    I  had  never 
heard  any  music  like  that  before,  and  no 
words  can  describe  the  effect  it  produced 
upon  me.     1  thought  of  the  bitter  cry,  so 
sadly  different,  the  cry  of  the  distressed  and 
afflicted  all  over  the  world ;  and  an  irre- 
sistible longing  seized  me  to  be  enrolled 
among  the  citizens  of  this  wondrous  city, 
and  to  bring  sorrowful  hearts  everywhere 
within  its  gates  of  joy.     I  turned   with 
[  159  ] 


^l 


The  Coign  of  Vantage 


eager  haste  to  ask  my  guide  whether  these 
things  might  be.  But  he  had  vanished, 
and  the  last  lingering  tones  of  the  sweet 
anthem  died  away. 

With  that,  trembling,  I  awoke,  and  be- 
hold, it  was  a  dream. 


it 

til' 


[i6o] 


& 


m^mm 


I 


